


Curiosity killed the cat (but luckily it has nine lives)

by AWRA



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, Thor (Movies)
Genre: Author has a terrible knowledge of the Marvel universe, Awesome Frigga, F/M, Forced Marriage, Hydra (Marvel), Jotun!Loki, M/M, Mind Control, Odin's A+ Parenting, Slow Burn, Tony just wants to listen to his fucking music, Weird Enemies
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-07-01
Updated: 2015-02-22
Packaged: 2018-02-07 00:16:11
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 17
Words: 56,067
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1877871
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AWRA/pseuds/AWRA
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Loki and Tony are forced to marry by Odin, neither of them expected to get anything good out of their situation. But both of them are curious by nature, and somebody who is as clever as you are and comes from a complete different world is a pull they just can't resist. And if that somebody shares the same enemy you have, well getting to know them better is the smartest solution, right?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> My first multichapter fic. Or actually, the first one I think I actually might finish. Maybe, this thing keeps growing, it's getting out of control. First of all, I'd like to make you notice that all I know about Marvel it's taken from the movies and a couple comics I'm not even sure I understood, so don't expect this to have a relly accurate content. Second, writing this story I completely ignore both Iron Man 3 and TTDK, nothing that happened in those movies has happened in this story. CA:TWS has happened instead, 'cause I like Stucky.  
> This chapter is a bit shorter than average, and I don't know how fast I'll be updating. I don't have a beta, English is not my first language, all typos and mistakes are entirely my fault. And that's it, I guess.

Saying Odin liked to make a show of his so-called wiseness was an understatement. He said that whoever wished to see the trials, may enter, so now the whole hall was full of people. There were the most important families of Asgard, of course, like it always happened when something even remotely important happened. There were also all those who managed to get inside, squeezed against each other, for no other reason than to amuse themselves. They reminded Loki of Midgardians.

Loki was flattered, really. So many people coming here just to make fun of him. As humiliating as it was, knowing that after the trial all of them would be speaking of him behind his back, it gave him some strange sense of pride. Ironic how the people seemed to really notice him only in his disgrace.

His mother was there too, obviously. Frigga had refused to stand beside Odin, like in the previous trial, and preferred a position not far from Loki. He appreciated that, as he appreciated the fact that she had, from time to time, visited him in the dungeons during the previous months.

The Warriors Three and Sif were at the sides of the throne, like the good little pathetic soldiers they were. They were glaring at him, but he paid them no attention. After all those times they had come to his cell, trying (and usually failing) to humiliate him with their words, they should have understood he did not care about them.

Thor was not there, though, which was strange. During the last trial he had stood near his father and looked him with sad eyes the whole time. Act that had brought him to a level of pathetic even worst than the Warrior Three's. Loki did not doubt the blonde's complaints had played an important part in making Odin rethink about his decisions.

Odin was taking his time explaining every reason of his decisions and the reconsiderations he had made concerning Loki's chastisement, even though they could probably be summarized as “my son and wife were annoying me too much”. He was talking so much Loki was about to fall asleep in the middle of his own trial. While he was curios of what the Allfather had in mind for him, what kind of idea he had had that made him reconsider Loki's punishment, at this rate he would probably doze off before finding out. And he had thought the dungeons were boring.

“Loki!” he heard his mother hiss. He turned slightly towards her “Try to pay attention, it is for your own good” yes, for his own good. Of course. He listened to a couple words, before boredom took hold of him again and he decided to direct his attention elsewhere. That bruise on Fandral's face was horrible, Loki shall find whoever did it and thank him profusely.

The next time someone called him, it was Odin. He looked expectant.

“Yes?” Loki asked.

“You have not been listening, have you Loki?” Odin said. Loki heard some laughs coming from the crowd.

“Was it so obvious?” Odin glared and Loki just made his most infuriating smile “Have I missed anything important?”

“Yes, you have. I will give you a summary, since you are not capable of listening to somebody who is not yourself for more than a couple minutes” Odin had to have lost a lot of his precious time preparing his speech if he was so nervous because of Loki's disinterest “With your actions, you have not only committed crimes against Midgard, but also, since you still are a Crown Prince of Asgard, you have brought dishonor on Asgard's King and thus on the whole Realm” Loki snorted. Of course Odin would find the way to play the victim, he always did “For this, Asgard has to make peace with Midgard according to the traditions” Loki frowned. Then realization sinked in, and he felt the blood drain from his face.

“No” he said, and it came out as a growl “You cannot do that”

“You seem to forget who is the King here. Midgard society works in a very different way from that of the other Realms, and this gesture may not be seen as a true peace offering for its people, but it will be for Asgard and all other Realms. We have already find a suitable person, you will depart tomorrow morning” Odin declared. There was a small, victorious smile on his face. Giggles were coming from the crowd, and even the Warrior Three's had little grins on their faces. If this was Thor's fault, Loki would find a way to give him unimaginable pain.

 

***

 

The stereo system was blasting Black Sabbath at a volume probably dangerous for human eardrums. Tony hummed along to it, while working on his new suit. It was coming out really well if you asked him. He just needed to work out how to make a couple things function without having to somehow bend the laws of physics. He was pretty sure he was about to figure it out, when the music stopped and someone cleared his voice behind him.

“Aw, Pep, is it really necessary?” he whined “It was getting to my favorite part of the song” Pepper sighed. She looked very serious. A serious Pepper is never a good thing. Also because things weren't exactly great between them, and sometimes he had the feeling she might break up with him. He knew that would probably happen soon, didn't mean he had to like it.

“Yes, it was really necessary. Now come to communal floor, no buts. Thor returned from Asgard and he says he has important things to tell the Avengers regarding Loki” with that, Pepper turned on his heels (how does she manage to pull that off with those shoes) and left the room. Tony sighed and followed her. He considered for a moment wiping his face from the sweat and grease, but then he decided not to. If Thor wanted to speak with a clean Tony he should've chosen another moment to come by.

And really, of all the reasons Pepper or anyone could find to interrupt him, news about _Loki_? Did he get a new roommate? What kind of news could there be about someone who is stuck in an Asgardian prison? And more important, why should he give a fuck about how Loki was doing?

The atmosphere in the living room was tense. The whole team was there. Clint was perched on the armrest of the sofa Nat was sitting in; Bruce and Steve were on the sofa, and this was unusual since Steve had been spending the last month trying to track down his former friend now Russian assassin with the other bird guy. Bird Guy was leaning against the wall, still a bit awkward when he was around them. Thor was standing in the middle of the room and - what a rare sight to behold - Fury had apparently crawled out of whatever hole he lived in to hear this and was now assessing his authority by standing in a macho pose next to the god. This had to be important. And probably hella boring.

“What's happening?” Tony asked, sitting next to Bruce. The doctor was like an oasis of good vibes in a very tense desert. Really Barton should easy up a bit, he looked so wound-up his back might be snapping anytime now. Thor turned towards Tony, and ok there was something in the way he looked at him the genius definitely did not like.

“My father has reconsidered Loki's chastisement” he boomed “I admit me and mother have been asking him to change his decisions many times, though I did not expect he would resort to this” he looked uncomfortable. Great, first serious Pepper and now uncomfortable and apologizing Thor, the only missing thing was angry Bruce and then the circle of People Showing Emotions Tony Did Not Like On That Specifical Person Face would be complete.

“Like, throwing him in cell and letting him there to rot for eternity wasn't a good punishment? I could have given you suggestion, you know” Clint muttered. All it needed was the word “Loki” to trigger a huge bad mood in the archer. Not that he could be really blamed, after all the trickster _had_ fucked with his mind.

“Resort to what?” Fury growled. Thor took a deep breath.

“You see, my brother is still one of princes of Asgard. Having committed crimes against Midgard it is as if he somehow declared war to it. There are many traditional ways a Realm can make amend to another, one of which consists in a political marriage” there was a minute of stunned silence.

“Loki's going to have to marry someone here?” Clint asked, disbelieving. And also vaguely hopeful. Probably he was already planning a way to get his revenge on the guy. Weirdo.

“Aye. According to tradition, he will not have the right to divorce, though his spouse may repudiate him if they wish so. That, however, would be seen as an offense to Asgard, and I do not know what the consequences of that may be. In past occasions when a divorce has, indeed, happened, the two Realms have often returned to their previous states of war. Loki will be stripped from most of his powers, and Heimdall will be keeping close surveillance on him so he will not bring harm upon anyone” Thor said. Tony snorted. Political marriage, and hope it will go well, people up there were nuts. Even if Loki could not physically hurt somebody he could probably talk them into jumping off of a bridge.

“And what if he tries to kill his new partner?” Natasha asked. Clever girl Nat, always with the good questions that apparently Asgardians don't think about.

“The punishment to that is death” ok, maybe they had thought about this.

“You take these things seriously up there” Clint commented.

“There is no way of keeping him on your Realm instead of our? Maybe sending both him and his new wife there? Because I don't want him here” Thor shook his head.

“They will have to reside here. And while I understand your concerns, Director, Loki will not be a danger to anyone” Thor assured.

“I have my doubts on that. And I don't see why the hell I shouldn't just throw that motherfucker inside a cage the moment he sets foot on Earth” Fury growled. He was pissed, well, more pissed than he usually was. Tony supposed he had his reasons to be, but really Nick should just relax.

“Director, any move against my brother, as reasonable as it may be, will not be taken kindly by Asgard. The Allfather will not like if you put in discussion his choices”

“So you're telling me the only thing I can do to avoid pissing off your father is letting this wedding happen and then leaving him and his new wife alone?”

“Aye” Fury murmured something about motherfuckers and having somebody's ass. Tony knew that face, it meant that Fury was not ok with this but he'd let it slide. It wasn't a face you saw everyday, but Nick would probably put on a purple wig and pole dance in front of Odin if it meant keeping Earth as far from galactic wars as possible.

“So who is the lucky lady?” Clint said “You already decided or what?” Thor looked sheepish and fidgeted from one foot to the other.

“My father has already decided. And it will not be a woman”

“Ok, lucky man then” Clint corrected. Steve blushed a bit at that. He still wasn't used to homosexuality being a normal thing. Though if Natasha theory was right (and her theories always were) the guy might have had some guilty man crush on his old friend back in the day. Whatever, who gives a fuck about Steve's sexuality, right now Tony was more interested in the matter at hand.

“C'mon, don't keep us waiting big guy” Tony said.

“According to tradition” Thor started “The spouse shall be part of the royal family of this Realm, but Midgard does not have only one King like the other Realms, and those royals of your kingdoms were not deemed of enough importance. In the end, my father found someone that he deemed not only powerful enough for Midgardian society, but also is a great warrior”

“A name Point Break” Tony said. Thor looked even more uncomfortable, why was Thor so uncomfortable?

“I have a theory, and Tony you will not like it” Natasha stated. Tony stared at her. Natasha doesn't have theories, she has facts she somehow reads into other people minds, if she said Tony wouldn't like her theory then whatever was going to happen would be something Tony wouldn't like _at all_. She just stared at him. An idea was slowly forming in his mind, but it couldn't be. It so couldn't. He turned towards Thor. His face confirmed the idea.

“Oh Hell, no!”

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for the positive response and for not killing me after reading all the spelling mistakes I made. By the way, I looked back at last chapter and corrected what I could find. This chapter however is still unbetaed and so it's very likely it'll be full of those same mistakes I put all over the first one. If anyone wants to point out if they see anything weird, it'd be really appreciated. Anyway, enjoy

Oh Hell, yes apparently. Tony had tried to argue with the decision, he said he had a girlfriend already, that he wasn't the matrimonial type anyways and more or less any possible objection that came to his mind. The others had just looked at him (most of them with visible pity in their eyes, and Steve being the good guy he was had even tried to take his side) as Thor shook his head and explained that his father had been unmovable on his choices.

“Just fucking quit it, Stark” Fury had snapped in the end “You have no choice so accept it and stop whining, we already have enough troubles without your stubborness causing a war with Asgard! It sucks, I'll give you that, but apparently it's not up to discussion” and Tony wasn't one to take orders, but this time it seemed he really couldn't do anything but shut up and take whatever the dicks with a mentality stuck in the Middle Ages threw at him, if he didn't want to start a war. And as a self-sacrificing hero and all that shit he couldn't endanger his whole planet, his stupid conscience wouldn't allow him to. This marriage thing couldn't be that bad after all. Or maybe he was in psychological shock and he just needed time to process the idea before freaking out completely.

So here he was, sitting on the sofa and waiting for Thor to list him his matrimonial duties or something, because apparently there were laws to guarantee the involved parts rights in this sort of thing. This was fucking surreal, he was in shock or he wouldn't be sitting so calmly.

“I don't wanna do this” he complained, and if he was whining like a five-years-old, who could blame him?

“I am sorry, Man of Iron. I wish there was another solution, but my father was firm in his decision” _your father can go pissing upwind_ Tony thought, but he didn't voice it.

“Yeah, yeah, I get it, you're so very sorry and so on” Tony snorted. This couldn't really be happening to him, it couldn't “Just tell me what the fuck do I need to do about this”

“The marriage itself will have to take place in one of the spouses' home, in this case yours. My mother will be the one to celebrate the ceremony, as is her duty as Queen of Asgard to join in marriage those who desire to. She will give you the matrimonial chains, bracelets that represent one's consort and you will not be able to take off”

“And after that?” Tony urged.

“You will have to give Loki a place to stay, to treat him well and to be sure no harm comes to him. You may keep your relationship private, if you so wish, but you will have to regard him as your spouse even if you do not desire him” Tony almost choked on his own saliva.

“Are you telling me I have to do the frick frack with your brother?” Thor frowned. This guy was worse than Steve sometimes “I mean, you know, _consummating_ the marriage and all that stuff?” please, let it be a no, please let it be a no, please please please.

“Nay, you do not have to lay with him if you do not desire it” Tony let out a relieved sigh “But you will have to share a bed with him and to honor him” the “share a bed” he guessed was alright. But honor him?

“Do you mean no cheating on him?”

“Aye” and this literally took the breath out of Tony.

“No! I mean, what about me and Pepper? We are togheter, I can't just... Do this to her” he gasped. Thor looked down.

“The traditions cannot be changed, my friend” he said “I apologize again, to you and to the Lady Pepper, but there is nothing I can do”

“Who the fuck even thought this was a good fucking idea?” Tony almost shouted.

“In the old times, marriage was almost always combined. It was believed that your parent's choice would be wise enough to choose someone good for you. The love would grow with time, and if it did not happen the couple could decide to divorce. It has not been done this way for a long time, but in the most powerful families it still happens” Thor said, earning himself an eye-roll.

“It was rhetorical. And I can't divorce anyways” Tony muttered “Thanks for your time, I guess I'll go... It's quite a lot to take in” he stood.

“My brother will arrive tomorrow” Thor said, and it was like a punch in the guts. Tony just nodded went back to his rooms. There was something pickling in his eyes. He squeezed them, refusing to cry. In bad moments he usually surrounded himself with work, but right now even science wasn't appealing. Guess he was coming out of shock.

His stomach churned, like he was going to be sick soon .  It was still evening,  far earlier than he usually went to bed , but he felt tired like he hadn't slept in days. Pepper was waiting for him, reading. She looked up when he walked in.

“Tony...”

“Just a minute Pep, I'm coming” he said flatly. He went to the bathroom and turned on the shower. He was still dirty from earlier. He washed himself trying his best not to think about Thor, or Loki, or how his life was going to change. He failed. He remembered the trickster's face when he walked in his Tower, all danger and mischief and sharp intelligence. He was handsome, this Tony could admit, and maybe if things had been different Tony could have been interested, but that guy was a psycho, he had killed who knows how many people and thrown Tony himself out of a window. And now he had to leave his girlfriend for _him_. He scrubbed his arm hard, making the skin red and not caring the slightest bit.

Pepper had put down her StarkPad when he came out of the bathroom. She was beautiful, without make-up and with her hair slightly messed. It made Tony's heart ache a bit more.

“The guys told me what's happening” she whispered.

“Seems like someone is finally making an honest man out of me, uh?” he joked, without any trace of happiness.

“What is it Tony?” she asked. She was always good at sensing when there was something he wasn't saying.

“Thor says I can't stay with you after I... marry him” Tony spat out the last part.

“When is he coming?” she asked, lowering her gaze.

“You mean in the “when does he arrive here” sense or in the sexy sense? Because if it's the second, I really have no interest in it”

“I'm not joking, Tony” she said, softly. She knew him better than anyone, and was aware that sarcasm was a form of defense for him.

“Tomorrow” he murmured “I guess this our last night togheter. Sounds like a stupid romantic movie” she inhaled sharply.

“In a sense, yes” she said “We both knew it wouldn't be lasting for long” Tony chuckled without humor. Yeah, they had known it for a while now, that they were just trying to make it work even though it was a lost cause.

“But at least it would have lasted for a while. At least we would have been ready for it” Tony breathed deeply, lying on his back. Pepper put her head on his chest, next to his reactor. He felt the perfume of her hair.

“I'm sorry Tony” she whispered.

“Me too” they would still be friends, he didn't doubt it. But he hated this. The fact that he had to leave her like this. Selfishly, he thought that if they had done it their way then he could have at least returned to his old playboy habits, but now either he switched on celibate for the rest of his life or he had to bang Loki. Something made him doubt that that would happen.

 

***

 

_He was falling. The suit was not responding, and he felt black creeping at the edge of his eyes. He was scared. The suit was resistant, but if he fell from this height it wouldn't probably be enough to save him. He saw the wormhole he had come through was closing and no, no, he was going to die in the middle of a galaxy far from home, far from Pepper and Rhodey and everyone and he was just falling and he could almost feel the coldness of space crawling inside his suit, grabbing him like a hand around his throat, a cool, pale hand squeezing and stopping the air from reaching his lungs-_

 

Tony woke up drenched in cold sweat. He took deep breaths, his ribs rubbing painfully against his reactor with every movement. The pain in his chest was something he was used to, but after a nightmare or any big scare it always seemed doubled.

“Nightmare?” Pepper asked, blinking up at him. Her voice was sleepy and it slowly brought the events of the day to Tony's mind. He winced internally.

“Don't worry” he replied, and caressed her cheek “Go back to sleep” Nightmares were pretty rare this days, and usually they were either Afghanistan or New York. His subconscious was so powerful that when the dreams were really bad he would even feel the ghost pain of what they did to him. The suffocation thing was rather unusual, though. He shivered. He was pretty sure of were did that come from.

He glanced at the clock in the room, something that Pepper had insisted he kept even if he could just ask Jarvis for the time. 3.25. In a few hours, he would be married to a god. Which wasn't nearly half as cool as it sounded. He got up with a groan. Pepper was falling asleep again. He realized he shouldn't just sneak away like this, he should have hold her and made love to her, but he found he couldn't. He threw some clothes on and headed straight for his workshop.

 

***

 

Loki did not sleep at all. He just laid awake, staring at the ceiling. He was back in his old chambers for his last night on Asgard. Some servant had brought him food, but his stomach was too tight to eat anything. He had ignored everyone who had tried to speak with him, included Frigga.

Of all the things Odin could think of, this was probably one of the worst. Loki could endure pain, and torture, and imprisonment, but being married to this... _mortal_ , was one of the biggest humiliations. His only hope was that Stark would die early and live his short life despising this situation as much as Loki did. He spent the night thinking about ways to make the mortal's life as miserable as he could. Some part of him - whatever was left of his conscience - told him it was not Stark's fault, but he elected to ignore that part.

He ran his hands on his face and between his hair in frustration. Even the prospective of spending the rest f his days in a cell had not been so terrible, had not given him this sick sensation like a hand was grabbing his guts and squeezing them. His left hand went to his right wrist, in some sort of assurance that no, it had not happened yet.

It wasn't as if he had never thought about marriage. There had even been somebody, somebody he had wished to spend his life with. And as a Prince, it would be unlikely that he would spend his life without marring, and the possibility of having to tie himself to someone he did not desire had always been present. Marriage between people of different Realms wasn't unheard of, after all Frigga was a Vanir and even Odin was not completely Asgardian. But nobody had ever married a Midgardian, neither by force or by his own will.

Loki was so lost in his thoughts that daylight caught him by surprise. The soft glow of the sunrise made the golden decorations in the room shine. He blinked a s a stray ray of sunlight fell on his eyes. So it was almost time for his departure. He had never once hated the daylight more than today.

“Loki?” Frigga knocked twice on the door, before stepping in “We have to go” she looked apologetic, exactly like she had the day before and all those times she had come to visit him during his imprisonment. Loki inhaled deeply.

“I will be ready in a few minutes mother” he murmured. Frigga nodded and left him to get dressed. He dressed with a simple long sleeved green tunic with golden decorations around the hems, dark green leather pants and leather boots.

He looked at himself in the mirror one last time, trying to engrave in his memory the face he saw. He then closed his eyes, and let coldness creep from within himself. He would not be wed to Stark, but rather the monster he did not recognize himself into would. The idea of staying in this form for long revolted him, but he would endure the disgust if it meant keeping his freedom, if only on a psychological level.

When he stepped out of his chambers, Frigga was waiting there with two guards. Her eyes widened the slightest in seeing him in that form, but she understood and just nodded. The eyes of those who saw them expressed disgust and, in some cases, fear, but no one tried to question them about Loki's appearance.

The walk to Bifrost felt vaguely like a dream to Loki. He was aware of the people once again gathered to watch him in his misery, and of the insults that were screamed in his direction, but he felt distant from them. When they reached their destination, Loki blinked, having lost himself in some daydream.

Odin was waiting for them at the bridge. Thor was there too, and Heimdall did not even spare a glance in Loki's direction.

“Brother...” Thor started, but a glare from Loki stopped him. The Aesir swallowed, taking in Loki's appearance.

“How many times do I need to tell you” Loki hissed “I am not your brother” Odin started speaking, and Loki made it a point to ignore him. He didn't want to listen to anything the King might have to say, not after his words and lies had brought him in such a situation. He closed his eyes instead and waited, until he felt his mother touch his arm. He let her pull him forward a few steps, before hearing the sound of metal sliding against metal and the pull of Bifrost.

 

***

 

“How do you feel?” Bruce asked.

“Like I'm about have one arm cut off” Tony replied. He had a black Armani suit on, even though he had wanted to just do this thing in jeans and t-shirt. It had took half of team plus Pepper's efforts to convince him to dress nicely.

His admiration for Pep had reached whole new levels in the last hours. She was clearly sad about their forced break-up and overall pissed about the situation (like everyone else there) but she had somehow found the strength to actually order him around and make him act all proper and shit. She was the best.

“Do you want some tea? It may help you relax” Bruce offered.

“No thanks Brucie, I'll manage” Tony was pretty sure that if he tried to swallow anything at all he would probably throw it all up. His reactor was giving him hell, he rationally knew it was just his impression but it was like his chest was about to start spontaneous combustion.

A blinding light told them that Thor had come back. With Loki. Tony had to physically fight the nausea. Bruce gave him a short nod. Tony breathed deeply and slowly made his way to the penthouse.

The Aesirs were waiting for him. Thor was looking had again that apologetic look on his face that Tony was really starting to hate. Next to him stood a beautiful blond woman, Queen Frigga Tony supposed. Her expression was unreadable, though Tony had the feeling she was judging him.

Loki was behind them, almost as if he was trying to hide. His skin was of a strange blue color, and Tony wondered if this was another of those stupid traditions. Tony frowned, it didn't look like any sort of body paint. It was weird. A part of him was selfishly happy that the god looked as much angry as Tony felt, but it was bittersweet thought. It wasn't like it mattered if they didn't give their consent to this.

“You are Anthony Stark, I suppose” the woman said “I am Frigga, Queen of Asgard” Tony swallowed. This woman was one of those people who literally radiate authority.

“That's me” he confirmed.

“You know Thor, and I trust you remember well Loki” she said “We may commence” the penthouse of the Tower wasn't exactly the most romantic place in the world, but this had nothing to do with romance. Loki went to stand next to Tony, and the inventor noticed that the trickster's eyes were completely red. They made eye contact for a second, before turning toward the Queen. A second had been enough for all mutual disgust and anger to flow from one another, and now Tony felt even more pissed than he did before.

Frigga went on saying some ceremonial stuff Tony didn't really bother to listen. After the speech, she literally made appear what looked like a string of some strange gray metal. After a couple seconds of inner debate, Tony decided to shut up the scientist in him. This was not the moment to worry about laws of physics being walked on, but rather to concentrate on what was happening.

“Show me your right forearms” Frigga commanded. Loki started rolling up his sleeve, and Tony started unbuttoning his shirt's cuff. Thor hadn't been really clear about the ceremonial stuff, so he figured he should just go with it and pulled his sleeve up to his elbow “Take each others arm” Tony frowned, confused. Loki distended his arm, and when Tony just stared he forcefully grabbed his right hand and put it just under his own elbow, while gripping Tony on the same spot. The inventor felt vaguely embarrassed, but to his defense it wasn't like he'd ever been at many marriages.

Frigga passed the string around the two's right arms, and when the ends of it made contact they fused, creating one full circle. Frigga then delicately pulled their arms away from one another, and to Tony's surprise the string became longer, before narrowing in the space between them. It created two circles around their wrists, that eventually closed and effectively became two separated bracelets.

The two strings, which until now were just plain silver treads, began to change their shapes. Tony's became three separated treads, one central and other two twirling around it. Loki's, instead, was a small chain made of many little triangles. The color remained the same, a dull, pale gray.

“Anthony, son of Howard, and Loki, son of Laufey, I declare you married in the eyes of the gods. May your union be happy and your love grow strong” Frigga said. _Oh, yes, you can count on it_.

 


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short chapter is short. At first chapters 3 and 4 should have been only one, but then it got too long and I decided to cut it and the first part became short. Unbetaed, mistakes are my own, you know the same old stuff.

Frigga had gracefully excused herself right after the ceremony, saying she wished to stay longer but she was too busy. Tony didn't doubt it. She kissed Thor's and Loki's cheek, and offered a small bow of his head to Tony, before leaving. Which left Tony, Loki and Thor alone in the same room. It was like a big, ugly ball of awkwardness.

“Sooo” Tony started, determined to get away from this as fast as he could “Looks like I have to give you the tour” Loki, who had been staring at a point outside a window up until now, slowly turned towards Tony, staring at him like he was some horrible thing that dared soiled the place in his presence.

“I suppose so” he confirmed, without any hint of emotion in his voice. He had rolled down his sleeve as soon as he could, hiding the little chain from view. Tony had to admit, those red eyes were a bit creepy. And when they had touched before, the god's skin had felt unnaturally cold. He was starting to think this might not be simply some traditional disguise.

“Point Break, can you tell the others I'll be busy for a while?” Tony asked.

“Of course, Man of Iron” the god answered, looking both relieved and worried at the same time. He went to the elevator, throwing some glances towards Loki.

“So this is the penthouse, you already kind of know this place” Tony started when the blonde disappeared. He was grateful that he had decided to repair the Loki-shaped hole in the floor instead of making it some kind of memorial “It's where I live. We, now. Ok. This is the living room, and that's the bar. There's a mini fridge there, if you're hungry. And this way there are two bedrooms” Tony moved towards said rooms, Loki following him “That's my bedroom, and that is a spare one. And, uh” Tony didn't know how to broach the subject, so he decided to go straight for it “Thor said we have to share bed or something”

“We do” Loki confirmed. He looked very unimpressed with the whole place. Tony would be offended, if he hadn't been basically on the verge of an hysterical crisis all day.

“I take the left side” Tony said. Loki stared at him for a moment like he didn't believe Tony's impertinence, but then just nodded.

“It is acceptable”

“Good. The bathroom is behind that door” Tony indicated it “And there's also a spare room, if you need a hole to bury yourself in or something like that”

“Thank you for the offer” Loki sarcastically commented.

“Mh. Jarvis?”

“ _Yes, sir?”_ Loki froze and looked around.  It was already better than Thor's reaction the first time he had met the AI; the god had jumped out of his skin and took out his hammer, demanding for the owner of the voice to show himself.

“Nothing, just wanted to tell Bambi you're there. Loki, this is Jarvis, it's my AI, if you ever have problems just ask him. Jarvis, this is Loki”

“ _It's a pleasure, sir”_ Jarvis greeted, and the fact that Tony had programmed Jarvis to use occasional sarcasm and he wasn't sure if the AI was meaning it or not was just a little detail.

“I see” man, if Loki acted any more coldly the whole place might just freeze down.

“Good. There are a lot of other floors on the Tower, I'm basically the only one who uses this one, there's also a floor with some labs, for me and Brucie, a lot of floors with people who I think work for me, but those are just the bottom ones, and then there are the floors where the rest of the Avengers team lives and one communal floor where we all go if we wanna party, so if you want to avoid them you should stay away from all those floors, all clear?” Loki nodded “Ok, I'm going to put on some comfortable clothes and then close myself into my lab, if you don't see me coming up in some days don't worry about me, at worst I'm just passed out from exhaustion and too many drinks. As I said, you can ask Jarvis about anything” with that, Tony grabbed an AC/DC t-shirt, some comfortable jeans and ran to the bathroom to change, leaving a frowning Loki in the doorway.

When he came out, the god was lying on the right side of the bed, boots left out of the door. He was blue even on his feet, Tony noted. He still didn't understand why the fuck would Loki just turn his skin blue (and  make weird markings on his face), but he decided to not think too much about anything Loki-related. Instead, he escaped to his  workshop , forcing his train of thoughts on that project he'd been working earlier. He thought he had snacks somewhere, he could hide in that place for a while without dying .

 

* **

 

The bed in Stark's room was big and quite comfortable. The place itself was strange, alien, full of all those Midgardian things Loki never bothered to learn anything about. He admittedly did not spend much time on researches about this Realm, never really considering it an important place. And The Other had not been all that interested in Midgardian technology, either.

Loki shut out the thoughts of The Other from his mind, not wanting to dwell on his time with the Chitauri. Instead, he wondered how he should spend his time from now on. He did not want to explore the Tower right now, there would be plenty of time for that. And he did not want to meet any of the Avengers either.

He laid there for more than an hour before the fullness of his bladder forced him to raise. As he went to the bathroom to relieve himself, he tried to avoid looking at any mirror. It proved to be difficult, since Stark had decided to place one on the wall that faced the door and Loki had to look at himelf the moment he stepped in the room. Self-loathe filled him  at the sight , and  he turned his gaze away. He desperately wanted to turn back to his Aesir face already, but  he suppressed the urge. His decision was firm; he would remain this monster for as long as he was forced to be Stark's spouse.

While he washed his hands (after having figured out how the toilet and the sink worked), trying not to flinch at the color of his skin, the matrimonial chain slipped out from under his sleeve.  B ile r ose in his throat. The little triangles looked like they were mocking him. It was not  _them_ th e chain he should see around his wrist, it was not them, it was...

He stopped another painful line of thought. He exited the room and started pacing around the bedroom, bitterness flooding his entire being. He clenched his fists, feeling more angry than he had in a long time. Anger towards whom, he was not sure.

He was angry at himself, for not putting on more of a struggle when Odin had announced his decision. He was angry at Odin mostly, furious, for this last humiliation, and for all of those lies he had grown with, believed in, the pain of Odin's betrayal being even sharper in these circumstances. He was angry at Thor, for being the one to convince Odin to change his mind. He was even angry at his mother, but that feeling was weak, for he could never be truly angry with her. And he was also incredibly angered with Stark. Why had the man not refused this? Did he wish to see him humiliated so badly too? Or maybe, did he want to show his world that he was worthy of being married to a god?

Loki knew little about Stark, other than the man had an ego smaller to few. He had constructed a Tower with his name on, after all. It was not entirely impossible that he wanted to prove something by having Loki as his spouse. He had looked uncomfortable, but this did not mean he could not be secretly proud of himself for being deemed this important. New fury flared through Loki at the thought.

He walked to what he supposed was Stark's wardrobe. He opened it. His powers were weak, thanks to Odin's spells, but it did not mean his physical strength was diminished as well. The Allfather had probably not even thought about that when he had casted his enchantments.

Loki was aware of what was considered elegant by human standards. Even he could admit that those suits, he believed was the term, had a certain appeal. So he scanned the content of the wardrobe, and once he found what probably were the most stylish - and expensive - of Stark's clothes, he efficiently tore them to pieces. He found no satisfaction whatsoever in doing so - but it probably would annoy Stark, and it was a good thing. With time, he would find more elaborated ways to bother Stark, but for the moment this would suffice.

Once he had done that, he returned to the bed and lied back down. He figured that he should probably try and learn how did Midgardian technology work, but now was not the time.  Right now, he didn't want to think about anything at all. He closed his eyes, and let an exhaustion he didn't know he felt wash over him.

 

* **

 

There was a thin layer of ice on the bed around himself. He paid it no attention, not even when it cracked as he jumped to his feet and almost ran to the bathroom. He put his hands on the sink and tried to calm his racing heart. Night terrors weren't new to him, hadn't been in decades, but there was something about this last dream that made his skin crawl.

Only when ice started to cover the porcelain surface he was supporting his weight on, Loki let go and sat on the floor, more tired than when he fell asleep but determined to not doze off again. It hadn't been a normal nightmare, he knew it. He couldn't pinpoint what exactly had seem so wrong about the dream, other than the fact that it was a nightmare, obviously. The scenario had been one of those that haunted his dreams the most, nothing new about it. Then why would his dream feel so different this time?

He had always been able to suppress all the emotions coming from these night terrors, going back to his usual self in a matter of minutes. To be still trembling with fear was unusual for him.

 

***

 

“Tony?” Tony raised his eyes from the wires he was welding. Bruce was walking towards him, hands in his pockets.

“Yeah?”

“You've been closed in here since... you've been in here for five hours. I know you don't want to think about what's happening, but this isn't the best way of dealing with it” Tony sighed and rubbed his eyes. He was wondering when would someone come in and ask to talk about his feelings or something like that. Five hours, it was already longer than he would've bet on.

“I'm fine Brucie, just... I have some urgent project to work on, so I don't think I'll come out of here anytime soon” Tony said, without any of his characteristic vehemence when science was involved. Bruce looked about to say something, but then he shook his head and turned to leave.

“Of course. When you'll be finished with this, come talk to me, ok? I'm not a psychiatrist but I know a couple things about coping with stuff we can't really control” Bruce said, knowing full well that Tony wouldn't do it.

“Thanks Brucie, see ya later” Tony lowered his gaze again, until he heard the door closing behind Bruce. He put down his tools hand sighed, taking his head between his hands and closing his eyes.

Yesterday around this time he was in this same lab, but without a chain around his wrist and a god he quite frankly detested in his room. God who, apparently, had decided to destroy some of his stuff not so long ago, according to Jarvis. It was unnerving, yes, he had wanted to run back in his room and yell at him, yes, but instead Tony had thrown himself back into work without giving himself the chance of thinking too long about it. Work was good, work was fun, nothing could bother him as long as there was work to do, least of all emotions.

The truth was, work was usually enough to shut down all of his feelings and thoughts and stuff, but today not even this was enough. Probably nothing short than  an entire liquor cabinet would be. Every time he had to look down and see the  cold  chain around his wrist his stomach tightened, his ribs ached and he just wanted to bang his head against a wall. Why the hell did it have to be him the one whose life always ended up being screwed? He had shrapnel in his chest, PTSD and nightmares every other night (and wouldn't this become even better now, waking from a nightmare to see Loki's face), an incredible amount of daddy issues, trust issues since that time one of his life long friends had tried to kill him, and now he had to leave his girlfriend to marry a fucking  _God of Lies_ ?

He still hadn't wrapped his head fully around the concept of  _marriage_ , but now it was like it flooded him. He was stuck for life with Loki. A life of waking up and seeing that face that sometimes still haunted his dreams next to him, a life of going home only to find this guy lounging around, a life of fucking celibate unless he wanted to find out if Loki was interested; this was like a fucking nightmare. He grabbed the first thing he found lying around and threw it against a wall.

He hadn't even realized he had stood from the chair he was sitting on. His fists were clenched, his breath quickened and he was so angry he fucking felt it in his  _veins_ , like anger was hot magma that ran around his body and filled him instead of blood.  Who did these people think they were, coming here and tearing to pieces the balance he had so hardly managed to create?

H e threw the nearest table to the ground, not caring about what was on it. He could easily repair everything anyways. As long as this everything was little material things, that's it. He chuckled. He could create the most advanced technologies of the entire world, and he couldn't even keep his fucking life togheter. 

Tony didn't have alcohol in his workshop, which was a true pity.

 


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you a fucking lot for all the people who left kudos/commented/read this story. Really, you are the light of my day. I'm making a couple changes at the story's summary ('cause it sucks, seriously what part of that convinced you to read this story because it so totally wouldn't have convinced me) and in the future the rating may go up to E, just so you know. I'm not really sure yet, but it probably will.   
> Rant over, enjoy the chapter

“ _This is only your own fault”_

“ _No!”_

“ _Stop denying it. It will not change anything”_

 

He woke with a scream that remained stuck in his throat before it could escape him. He gasped, looking around. He remembered where he was, and what had happen just a day ago? maybe less? A sob escaped his lips. Only one. His clothes croaked as he lied back down.

 

***

 

Loki's stomach was grumbling. He scowled. Of course he was hungry, he had not eaten anything all yesterday. In his cell, he was brought food twice a day, but since he was the Prince he still had better meals than the rest of the prisoners. He was not used to eating at irregular hours anymore. He supposed he could find something in the bar Stark had shown him the day before.

As soon as he got there, he realized he had no idea not only of what, but also of where exactly was his food supposed to be. The furniture looked all the same to him, and he did not even know what food was there that he could like. During the Chitauri invasion, he had had some mind-controlled Midgardians bring him some food, mostly bread and fruits he did not have on Asgard, but had never wondered where did they take it from.

“ _May I help you, sir?”_ it took all of Loki's willpower not to jump when he heard the disembodied voice. He had almost forgot about this... Jarvis. His ideas on what exactly an AI was were a little confused, but he guessed it was some kind of machine. Had it been a person asking, Loki's pride would have said no, but since this was only a machine and, he supposed, some kind of servant, he decided to accept.

“I desire some food, but I am unsure of where I should find it” he explained. It still felt embarrassing to voice his wishes like this, despite whom his audience might be. He felt weak. And stupid. Asking for help had never been something he enjoyed.

“ _Depends on what you would like to eat, sir. But I'm afraid there isn't much in the penthouse”_ Loki frowned.

“Is there any kind of fruit?”

“ _There should be some in the mini fridge. It's the small one with a silver door”_ Loki opened the cabinet he was told, and he indeed found some fruits.  There was an apple that looked old and not very inviting, and some strange yellow and brown fruits with an elongated shape, along with many kinds of alcohol and very few other foods. He grabbed one of them, unsure of how to eat it. It looked like it was covered in some kind of peel, and he carefully opened it. The inside was squashy, but the taste was overall good. Something he could get used to.

_Not that you have many other choices_ a little voice inside himself said. The taste in Loki's mouth was suddenly more bitter. Rationally, he knew he should try to understand as much as he could about Midgard, and his natural curiosity, while dulled by his anger and hopelessness, was urging him to explore and learn. On the other side, understanding of this Realm felt like a defeat to him, as if he was surrendering to being Stark's consort for the rest of the mortal's life (and he knew this, and knew denial was idiotic, but it still felt good to repeat  _it will all end soon_ ).

But he needed to learn all he could about Midgard, if only what was strictly necessary as the location of food had been. He wondered which of the many unknown objects in the room were worth learning about, and he opted for not even one. At least, maybe some _were_ useful, but they looked all the same to him. Oh. But there was something that he could recognize as important.

“Tell me, Jarvis” Loki asked after eating the fruit, and taking a second of the same kind “What are you exactly?”

“ _An AI, sir, which stands for Artificial Intelligence. I am a highly advanced computer, programmed to understand and interact with humans and able to think and learn by myself. Essentially, I am able to perform functions and reasoning typical of the human mind. If I may, sir, could you please put the peels inside the trash can?”_ Loki despised Midgardians, and always thought their technology was pitiful, but this was fascinating. He never heard of a machine which, if he understood correctly, had the mind of a living being. Computers and such were never one of his biggest interests, but he supposed this was very advanced technology, if even Asgard did not have it. Surprising, to find it on this Realm.

“Are AIs common on Midgard?” he asked, doing as the AI had asked.

“ _No, sir. At the moment, I am the only successful attempt at creating one”_ now Loki was even more interested.

“Who created you?”

“ _Mr Stark did, sir”_ Loki's mild amusement diminished exponentially at the mention of the man, but it did make sense. Stark was very intelligent for a mortal, this Loki knew, his technology far more advanced than the rest of the Realm's, and it was only logical that the creator of Jarvis would desire to keep this kind of invention for himself.

 

***

 

“ _Mr Stark”_

“Aw Jarvis, what is with you people and turning off my music in the best moments?” Tony whined. This time around, the interruption was right before the solo of “Stairway to Heaven”. The simple thought of stopping “Stairway to Heaven” right before the solo should be considered a sin. Jarvis had to consider himself lucky that computers didn't go to hell.

“ _Sir, you've been in the workshop for almost 24 hours now. Considering your lack of sleep yesterday, you should have some rest”_

“Jar, you're not my mother, I can go on for a while more” Tony assured. The song started from where it stopped and Tony let his thoughts and feelings be washed away again by music and work. The fact that he had found a piece of cloth lying around and tied it around his right wrist made it much easier. Though the chain was still cold, despite having been against his skin for more than long enough to warm up a bit. He should run some tests on the material sooner or later. Later was better. He hummed the lyrics of the song as he worked. 

Of course  that stuff didn't work like it should, he had made a wrong calculus. That was really weird, his calculus were always right.

 

***

 

“ _Sir, Mr Odinson is coming here to speak with you”_ Jarvis said. Loki, who had found that lying in the guest room's bed was  for some reason better than doing so in Stark's, clenched his jaw and silently swore that if the oaf even tried to open his mouth he would regret it. He was surprised the whole city did not hear Thor's steps as he walked to the bedroom Loki was in.

“Brother” very well then, he was asking for it.

“'Brother'?” Loki hissed, springing up from the mattress and turning towards the doorway, were Thor was standing. The god winced, probably after seeing the wrath on Loki's face. Or just Loki's face “After all the times I told you, even you should have understood that I am not your brother!”

“I will always see you as such” Thor assured, making Loki snort.

“You will? Tell me, _brother_ , why do I have the feeling that right now you see it a little less than usual? And do not bother to deny it, it is written all over your face” Thor swallowed and looked away, guiltily. Loki had seen it the moment he had laid his eyes on Thor's face, the uneasiness and the barely there _disgust_ for his looks.  He loathed his own face as well, but this did not make him any less angry. In fact, to see on someone who insisted on calling him “brother” just made it worst.

“It is true that I am finding it hard to recognize you in this form, and I am unsure on why you would want to take it, but you are still Loki” Thor murmured. Loki laughed without any kind of amusement.

“Why am I like this, you ask? In case you forgot, this is what Jotuns look like. This is what _I_ look like, and the face you know is but a disguise” something inside Loki was screaming, telling him that _no, no this is not what I look like, this is not me, I am not this monster, that other face is the real me_ and he felt bile rising at his own words, but he hid it all from Thor. If this is what the Aesir did not want to see, or hear, then Loki would scream it to him until his lungs burned and his throat was raw.

“Why do you bear so much hatred for me, brother, what have I done to deserve your wrath?” Thor almost shouted, sadness in his face. Loki almost did not believe the oaf was actually asking this.

“Do you mean what reasons other than the last straw, when you convinced your father to marry me to one of your mortal friends, like some gift to show the Realms how good a King he is?” Loki shouted.

“I never suggested this as a solution!” Thor's voice was raised as well now. He looked offended. _He_ had the  audacity to look offended.

“Then next time you do something, Thor, think about the possible outcomes before doing it!”

“If you had listened to your own advices you would not have been incarcerated in the first place!” and now there was true rage in Thor's eyes, and a part of Loki was screaming with joy at seeing the ever so perfect Thor with such a furious expresson. It felt right, to see Thor finally descend from his cloud of merriment and face the reality.

“Who put me there?! WHO PUT ME THERE?!”

“YOU KNOW DAMN WELL WHO!” they stared at each other, breathless. Thor's eyes were shining, as if he was about to cry, in rage or in something else Loki was not sure nor he wanted to find out. He was suddenly so tired.

“Leave me alone, Thor” he said, and it sounded like an order despite the fact that Loki was pretty sure it was half a plead.

“I merely want everything to go back as it was” Thor croaked, and there was a cry in his voice.

“It is not possible, and you should have realized it a long time ago” Loki's words concluded the argument. Thor turned around, but stopped before leaving the room.

“What does it look like?” he asked. He did not need to specify what.

“What do you think it looks like?” Loki replied. Soon after he heard Thor's heavy footsteps leaving the room, and presumably the floor. Loki lied on the bed and curled on himself. The chains on his wrist was cold against his skin, despite the fact Jotuns do not feel cold. There was a heavy weight in his chest, the kind of weight only crying lightens, and his argument with Thor had only made it worst. 

Loki would not cry. It was a question of pride. He was stronger than this. Furthermore, he had learned earlier that Jarvis knew everything that went on in the house.  There were things Loki was not willing to do even if his only audience was a machine.

 

* **

 

Tony was finally satisfied with his results. He yawned. He could really use some sleep right now, he was feeling like he'd been ran over by the Hulk. Last time he'd felt this tired, he hadn't slept in four days and was starting to have visions. A bed sounded like an awesome idea right now. Then he remembered who would he have to sleep with. For a moment he was very tempted to sleep in the workshop, but Jarvis would kill him if he did. Either him or Pepper.

He wondered how was Pepper doing. Knowing her, she had probably already found the strength of getting over all the shit that was happening. While he was still locked in his workshop hoping for problems to solve themselves. He wondered when the hell did he start thinking like this about his own habits. He must have spent far too much time with Steve. He could see how the guys were doing, if his calendar actually matched reality then it was movie night tonight.

No, he wouldn't go see any of the guys right now. They would ask questions and try to talk about feelings he was pretending he didn't have. No team reunion this evening.

“What time is it Jarvis?”

“ _It's 01.34 am, sir. You should retire for the night”_ he hadn't realized it was already this  late. He had thought it was still afternoon. Maybe he should really go to sleep. Or maybe not.

“What's Loki doing?” he asked.

“ _He is lying in the living room, sir”_

“Has he done anything but lying around?”

“ _Pacing, mostly. He has received a visit from Mr Odinson earlier. They had a fight”_ this Tony didn't doubt, he was pretty pissed at Thor too. At least he hadn't destroyed anything else _“He has eaten some fruit, and if I may you should refill the mini fridge; and he has made some questions about me”_

“What kind of questions?” Tony didn't like when people made questions about Jarvis. He had trust issues, ok? And if the person making the questions was Loki he liked this even less.

“ _Mr Laufeyson was curious about my nature and my capabilities”_

“And you?”

“ _I told him what was necessary to satisfy his curiosity, while at the same time not giving too many informations”_ Tony chuckled.

“Looks like I programmed my issues into you, Jar” then he noticed something and frowned “Hey, what'd you called Loki one moment ago?”

“ _Laufeyson, sir”_

“Uh... Why?”

“ _During your wedding”_ Tony almost choked on his own bile-tasting saliva _“Queen Frigga has called him 'Son of Laufey', thus his full name would be Loki Laufeyson”_

“Uh. Thor had mentioned something about him being adopted” Tony mused. It made sense that Loki would have a surname or whatever it was different from Thor's, if they went by fathers.

“ _If it interests you, sir, I have noticed something during Mr Odinson and Mr Laufeyson's conversation earlier”_

“Sneaky bastard, go on”

“ _Knowing everything that happens in the Tower is one of the tasks you have programmed me for, sir. Anyway, Mr Laufeyson has mentioned that the way he currently looks is linked to his heritage. Apparently, he is a 'Jotun', as opposed to Mr Odinson who is an 'Aesir'. The color of Mr Laufeyson's skin is, it seems, a characteristic of Jotuns”_

“Wow” was all Tony could say. This was interesting. So Loki wasn't just different blood, he was different race altogheter? “And what the fuck is a Jotun?”

“ _According to old Norse myths, Jotuns or Frost Giants are sworn enemies of the Aesirs”_ Jarvis dutifully responded. Tony whistled. So he was in a mess even worse than he'd thought at the beginning; this was incredible. Next time he saw Thor he'd have to have a few words with him a withholding important details. 

Tony yawned again.  His body had made the decision for him, it seemed. Sleep . In a bed. With Loki. He just hoped he fell unconscious on the spot then,  because trying to sleep with a blue something next to him wasn't a nice end to his day. Which hadn't started out nice in any case. He highly doubted any day would start out nice for a long time now.

He silently begged some deity that didn't reside in Asgard - since those ones seemed to be pissed at him for some reason - that Loki had already fell asleep on the couch or in some place that wasn't his bed.

Correction: all deities were pissed at him, Loki was awake and glaring.

“Stark. I thought I was freed from your presence for the next week” he spat out.

“Sorry to disappoint both of us, Bambi” Tony grabbed some boxers from the wardrobe (ignoring the mess inside, he would have words with Loki about it but not right now), went straight to his bathroom and started the shower. He undressed and slipped in. The water against his skin was heaven. He was one of those people who didn't like of overly hot showers, preferring water just at the right temperature to be warmer than cold, but not enough to be actually considered warm.

He tried to stay in for as long as he could, trying to keep the moment when he would have to go in bed as far as he could. He dried with more care and for longer than he probably ever had, even putting on his boxers slower than he thought humanly possible. Dressed (well, he only had boxers, but it was June and he always slept in his boxers anyways and if Loki had problems with it he could go sleep somewhere else) and clean from grease and sweat, he had no other choice than to go to bed.

Loki was already in, on the right side and facing away from Tony. The inventor crawled on the bed eyeing him carefully, silently hoping the god-  _the Jotun_ didn't chose that moment to turn around and snap his neck. How was he supposed to sleep next to him, like how could he be sure Loki wouldn't murder him during the night? He turned his back to Loki and closed his eyes. Jarvis lowered the lights automatically.

Tony tried to keep as still as possible, and to act like he was already sleeping. Considering how tired he'd felt half an hour ago it was ridiculous that he couldn't fall asleep now. He tried counting sheep, then counting drinks and then Iron Man suits, but it wasn't working. This was simply torture.

He wanted to turn around and try to see if sleeping on the other side would be better. But that would mean facing Loki's back. And what if he decided to turn around, that would be terrific. Why couldn't he sleep on the couch or at least on the other bed? Oh, right, because the Asgardian version of the Big Brother was looking down at them and he had to sleep with Loki or the guys up there would be pissed. Not that he gave a fuck if he pissed off some Norse gods, but Fury would have his head. And some other people would decide how to share the rest of his body between them.

 

***

 

Loki could pinpoint the moment Stark's breath calmed and finally the human fell asleep. It took him almost an hour. Loki had the temptation of turning around and strangling Stark while he was sleeping, but since he quite valued his life it was something he couldn't do. The temptation only became stronger when Stark started moving and kicking him. Loki did not want to sleep, but the constant movements of the mortal would have made it literally impossible. He closed his eyes when a foot hit his thigh and took a deep breath, trying to find some self-control he was not sure he had. Even utilizing his Jotun powers and freezing the mortal to death was a better prospective than sharing a bed with him for prolonged periods of time.

Despite Stark's annoying presence, Loki did start to feel slightly tired after a while. He forced the sensation away. He would  _not_ sleep,  not now and not with this mortal. A deep part of him suggested that it was not merely the uneasiness brought with having to share a bed with someone that kept him awake -  _it's your fault Loki, it's all your fault, and now look at those little pretty triangles on your wrist, what would you like them to be, and what they are instead-_

Despite all lights in the room being turned off, there was soft blue glow coloring the room. It seemed to come from behind Loki, and its intensity kept changing. He had the feeling he should know what its source was, but he would not turn to watch Stark's sleeping form only to investigate on this light.

 


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well hello again. Finally here we have some action/interaction between the two idiots. It's gonna be nice and awkward. Also, pizza to who guesses what piece of this chapter has been inspired by what movie. Hint: it's a movie about superheroes...  
> Have a nice reading!

There was some kind of unsaid agreement between them. Tony spent most of his time in his workshop, came up only for food and sleep and ignored Loki. Loki lied on the bed or the couch or paced around and ignored Tony. Occasionally Tony noticed something out of place (the destroyed suits in his wardrobe, the bed drenched in cold water, a strange fist-shaped hole in the wall) but he didn't say anything. It got on his nerves, sure, but he wasn't willing to break this truce just to yell at Loki. It was better to endure some stupid pranks than to acknowledge him.

This peace of sorts went on for almost two weeks, before it shattered.

 

***

 

Rationally Tony knew he couldn't keep avoiding all the other occupants of the Tower forever. Both Bruce and Wilson had tried to go all counselor on him but failed. Tony had asked Jarvis to make Thor bring food up for Loki when it finished (Tony didn't actually know what Loki ate, he let Jarvis order. And it felt in some way gratifying to have Thor be some kind of maid, kind of like having some sort of little revenge on Norse gods in general). The genius thought he even heard Clint stalking him through the air ducts. So a confrontation with worried team members was more or less what Tony expected.

What he did not expect, was Jarvis stopping his music (again) one evening to tell him there was a situation on his floor. Cursing, Tony ran out of the workshop and in the elevator. What he found, was Loki glaring at Clint and Clint pointing an arrow at Loki.

“The hell is happening here?” Tony asked, eyes running from one man to the other.

“Stark, I thought you had started living in that workshop” Clint growled, without looking away from Loki. He was panting and covered in sweat. It was weird, Clint was never out of breath.

“When did I go back to being 'Stark'? No, scratch that, why are you two about to kill each other?” really, did Clint just 'Stark' him? What the hell did he do wrong?

“You need not worry for me, _Stark_ , if anyone is going to die it is Agent Barton” Loki deadpanned, and Tony could bet his reactor that the Stark was said for the only purpose of annoying him.

“Well I don't want any deaths in my Tower, so some one is going to tell me what's happening here and if you could lower that thing I'm sure everyone would be very happy about it” Tony and Clint held a quick death glare match, before the archer lowered his weapons.

“Worried about your husband, Stark? Relax, I'm sure you'll find someone else who's willing to share a bed with you” Clint hissed. Tony froze. Clint had to be thankful he was his friend or Tony would have broken his nose.

“No, I'm not” he said instead, spitting the words through his teeth “I'm just really curious about the reason why you were pointing an arrow at him, since if you kill the guy I'm probably going to be atomized by the big guys in Asgard. I know you don't like him, but I thought you had some kind of control over your actions, _Barton_ ” and wow, that was low blow, even Tony recognized that.

“I could _hear him_ ” Clint broke, and it was almost a sob “In my head. Suddenly his _voice_ was there, I could hear it” Tony eyes widened at that and his anger partially disappeared. He tore his eyes away from Clint, who looked on the verge of a panic attack, and focused them on Loki. The... Jotun was watching the scene emotionless and detached as usual.

“I thought he was out of your head now” Tony whispered, talking with Clint but looking at Loki.

“I thought that too” Clint panted.

“It was probably some leftover connection” Loki said, sounding completely disinterested “Powerful magic always leaves some traces behind itself, and the closeness between me and Agent Barton has probably triggered a temporary link between out minds. It is not impossible that such an accident may repeat, in which case I would suggest him to merely ignore my presence until the connection breaks”

“Wasn't the Tesseract the thing that allowed you to fuck with his mind?” Tony asked. Loki raised a dark eyebrow, like he was about to scold Tony for his language.

“It wasn't the Tesseract, but rather the gem my scepter. Leftovers of its energy are still within myself, as well as in Agent Barton, and as long as they are there occasional connections are possible. I would not worry too much about it, since I don't possess the power to control anyone's mind anymore” with that, Loki turned around and went to the guest bedroom, completely unbothered. Tony turned again towards Clint. The archer was still panting and his eyes were closed, but he looked more in control than before. Tony felt a pang of guilt for snapping at the guy. Clint was a fucking idiot, and that line had totally sucked, but he didn't deserve to be screamed at while on the verge of a panic attack.

“Hey, man, you ok?” he asked.

“I don't want him in my head” Clint said, swallowing.

“I know. Uh... what about you go search Nat, you two are togheter right?” _Smooth, Stark, smooth._ Tony had always sucked at emotional support. Thinking about it, saying to somebody “hey, if you're feeling bad just go search your girlfriend” wasn't really the best thing he could come up with.

“We're worried about you, you know?” Clint said, opening his eyes to look at Tony “You spend all your time down there or up here, and I get it, you have your way of dealing with things, but you'll have to come out of your hiding place sooner or later”

“Thanks man, I really needed a psychiatrist right now” Tony joked. Clint huffed.

“Just come and see us. Fury is torturing us with questions, and Pepper called sometimes but we never knew what to tell her”

“Pepper? How's she doing?” Tony had thought a lot about her, but had asked Jarvis to block all calls to his workshop. Clint shrugged.

“Says she's fine and worries a lot about you” Tony swallowed. He should've called her, instead of ignoring her like this. Who knows how she was feeling right now.

“I'm fine. Now go down to the others before they come up here to see if you killed yourself” Clint shook his head and for once did as he was told. Tony turned around and went to living room. He felt like a complete shit. All of his bad feelings had come out when he'd snapped at Clint, now with the added guilt of making his teammates and Pepper worry about him. He shook his head. Barton had been this close to having a panic attack, Tony could recognize the signals very well, and yet he'd been the one to try to _help_ Tony with his feelings.

He walked to living room and found immediately what he needed. Soon he was on the couch with an open bottle of scotch and a full glass, wondering just how badly he should get drunk.

 

***

 

Loki was nervous. No, he was afraid. Afraid because the connection between his mind and Barton's had not been accidental. He had searched for it. And he was not even sure about why.

He was bored. He had had nothing to do but pace and think for the past two weeks, and the destruction of something of Stark - something big, and satisfying to see exploding - felt every hour like the best thing he could do. And then he started thinking about the scepter.

He didn't even know how his mind had strayed there. But he knew that once the thoughts of scepter had entered his head, he couldn't push them aside. And soon he had found himself testing the connection between himself and the closest person who had been influenced by that power - Barton. And it had worked.

But the problem was, he did not have reasons to test this. He was not interested in telepathy, certainly not with Barton. He did not even _like_ the mortal. He had been useful during his failed invasion, but otherwise he was completely uninteresting for Loki. What had brought him to create a link between their minds was something Loki could not understand; and he never acted without a reason. He couldn't even say he had just been _curious_ , because he hadn't. He had felt no satisfaction whatsoever in his discovery. Actually, he had felt nothing at all . There was only one possible reason he could think of for doing something like this. And it was one of those rare times when Loki hoped with all of himself of being utterly _wrong_.

But the more he reflected, the more it made sense. During the entirety of his... _penalty_ , he had felt angrier and more humiliated than he had in a long time. But since the idea of contacting Barton, he had felt nothing at all. Only after Stark had come to the room and asked what was happening this sort of trance had broken and his emotions returned to himself, togheter with his reasoning. Despite its improbability, Loki knew there was still a possibility of _it_ happening.

Loki frowned. Barton had been pointing an arrow at him, while Stark had merely talked. Why would Stark's words be more effective than a physical threat, albeit a weak one? Maybe Stark had simply nothing to do with this, it was just a coincidence that the trance had broken in that precise moment. Still, the more Loki thought about this, the more upset he became. He should not have fallen into the trance in the first place, because if that had happened...

Loki frowned, hearing a strange sound coming from the living room. He walked there, and what he saw mildly surprised him. Stark was on the couch, a mostly-empty bottle of Midgardian mead near him. He was probably drunk. And he was crying. He was keeping a hand on his eyes, but there were tears running down his face, and the way his chest raised irregularly were enough of a clue.

Loki had never liked drunks, and the sight was beyond pathetic. Truly this was the man Odin had deemed worth of his hand, a crying drunk? Anger boiled warmer in his body.

A sob escaped Stark's lips. Despite his rage, Loki recognized the way it sounded. It was the sound of someone who is being crushed by something bigger than him, but at the same time does not want to let any complain come out of his mouth. Loki was... quite familiar with that sound.

“Hey, Bambi” Stark said, the hand on his face having fallen down “Having fun?”

“No, I'm not” Loki answered dryly “Drunks were never something I found amusing” Stark laughed.

“I wasn't speaking about being drunk” he said.

“You are pathetic, Stark” Loki spat, with all the disgust he could master.

“I get drunk, but you tear apart my stuff. It's not really clever either” Loki did not reply, instead turning to leave “Did you even get why we're in this mess? 'Cause I totally didn't”

“What do you mean?” Loki glanced down at Stark. The mortal made some vague gesture with his arms.

“I mean this, me and you having to play happy couple for your daddy's fun”

“He is not my father” Stark laughed again.

“Yeah, so I've heard. Just why me?” Stark swallowed before continuing “I get it, I'm not the best person around, jeez, I did bad things too back in my day, but why the hell do I have to put up with this? Who decided I'm so fucking a shitty person to have my life fucking destroyed and having to marry a crazy psycho?”

“Watch your tone, Stark” Loki hissed.

“It's just not fair” Stark sobbed, his voice breaking “It's not fucking fair. And here I am, spilling my guts to a you, of all people. It's just a fucking joke” Loki could not take this anymore. He left and stormed to the bedroom he and Stark had to share, and wanted to destroy something. He punched the wall, making a hole in it. He felt a strange noise, and looking down he saw ice starting to form around himself.

Startled, Loki quickly raised the temperature of his body. The reminder of what he was calmed him, turning his destructive rage in a more intimate and controlled one, outlined by sadness and desperation. And even as he despised Stark, he could not help but feel some sort of sympathy towards him.

Loki scolded himself internally. Sympathy towards a mortal, what was next? Forgiving Thor? Stark may be as unhappy as Loki was, but solidarity was not something Loki would allow himself to feel for him. If anything, it should make him feel better.

Then why was he so upset because of Stark's outburst? Why did it give him this feeling of being even more hopeless than earlier? It frustrated Loki, and frustration quickly became cold anger. Stark had mentioned something about Loki breaking his things earlier, well he would show the mortal just how annoying he could get. He put his left hand on Stark's side of the bed and formed some ice. It would melt very quickly and it would leave Stark to sleep between drenched sheets. It was childish, but he would think of something more... elaborated.

Maybe he was just because he had made a wrong hypothesis. He had thought Stark would be proud of himself for being wed to a god, instead he was desperate almost as much as Loki was (for Loki doubted Stark could feel as bad as he did). He wasn't often wrong about other people, and his mistake was what had triggered such a strong response in him. Yes, it must be that.

Stark came to bed some hours later, hours Loki spent simply lying down thinking. He had wondered whether the human would sleep or go to his workshop, but given his current state of inebriation sleeping had seemed like the most logical option. He'd been right this time.

Stark did not complain about the water, which was truly a pity. The blue glow illuminated the room, as per usual when Stark slept. Loki had seen a glowing outline of the same shade of blue through Stark's clothes some times, and had eventually remembered something about the mortal having some kind of... reactor? was that the word? embedded inside his chest. He didn't remember why it was there, but it unnerved him to no end. It was not hard enough to endure the color of his skin during the day, even in the dark he had to be reminded of it.

He had the feeling there was something missing. He thought about it for a while, before realizing that Stark had not yet moved. Usually, the mortal would toss and turn and Loki would be hit by some limb all night, but right now he was completely still. Loki did not know why it upset him, but it felt strange instead of relieving.

Then Stark started panting and small whimpers from behind Loki's back; and the trickster turned in mild interest. Stark was curled on himself, and he trembling slightly. He was probably having a nightmare; given what little Loki knew about him it was highly probable that he would suffer from night terrors. It was something else that caught Loki's attention.

The reactor. Loki made sure Stark was still asleep, before crawling near the man to better observe the object. It seemed it was embedded deeply in Stark's chest. Now that he was so close to it he could also feel some energy coming from the device. It reminded Loki of the Tesseract for some reason.

Stark let out a loud whine and Loki quickly went back to the other side of the bed. He turned and waited for the mortal to wake up. When he did, it was with a gasp and a series of ragged breaths. He basically jumped out of the bed and in ten minutes he was out of the room, presumably to hide himself in his workshop again.

Loki lay awake, thoughts of the strange object filling its mind. It was the first thing about this Realm that had captured his attention so deeply, but he could not be blamed. It wasn't as if every day he saw what seemed to be a source of energy inside of someone's body.

 

***

 

Tony hoped Loki had been asleep when he had his nightmare. The idea of the god being awake while he had a night terror was... unsettling. Not to mention the drunk stuff, that was just incredibly embarrassing. And now that the adrenaline from the scare was diminishing, he was also aware of the throbbing pain behind his eyes.

Previous experience had demonstrated that Work and Hangover didn't go well togheter, also because Work went really well with Loud Music and Loud Music totally wasn't good for Hangover. So first step, make Hangover go away, then proceed to Work and turn on Loud Music.

They kept some pills for hangovers in the communal kitchen. Steve couldn't get drunk, Thor either (apart from that one time Tony had convinced Clint to make a little experiment with him and see if Asgardians could drink pure ethanol and what would happen if they did - the results had been exhilarating but something they never talked about again), Bruce didn't drink, Wilson too 'cause he was still hella awkward and Natasha apparently didn't have hangovers, so the only users of the pills were Tony and Clint. The inventor went straight for the kitchen, only to be greeted by the shout of:

“I can't believe! It's really him! What happened Stark, the atmosphere in your room is so cold winter came early in there?”

“Barton, I swear, another of this awful Game of Thrones jokes and we'll test out if the little hawk has learned how to fly” Tony groaned, covering his ears. Couldn't the little shit tell his head was breaking in half?

“Here you go” Bruce said with a sigh, and Tony found a glass of water and pills in his hands without even knowing how they got there.

“I fucking love you Brucie” he gulped down the water and pills, waiting for them to have some effect.

“Aw, and what about me?” Clint pouted, falling in the chair near Tony's.

“You are as lovely as a bullet in my knee” Tony elbowed him in the ribs, or at least tried to. He looked around “Where's the rest of the team?”

“Uh, Steve and Sam have a lead on the Winter Soldier, Nat's out and Thor is visiting Jane, so me and Bruce are trying to understand how the hell does the toaster work”

“I think only Bruce is giving some good contribute to it; you can't try to work out something without a brain” Tony said. He massaged his eyes.

“What's that stuff?” Clint asked, pointing at the piece of cloth still tied on Tony's wrist. All of Tony's relative good mood vanished.

“This stuff here? I use it to not see this other thing here” he took off the cloth, baring the lithe chain “My ring”

“Ops. Sorry” Clint said.

“What kind of material is that?” Bruce asked. Of course he would go in science mode the moment he saw the chain. Tony couldn't blame him, he would have too if it had been around someone else's wrist.

“Hell if I know. I've had it for two weeks and its still freezing cold” Tony played with the chain with his left fingers “I'll ask Thor when he comes back” the only other person who probably knew something about these chains was not someone Tony wanted to speak with.

“Does this mean you're actually going to interact with the rest of the world? We even let you out of a couple supervillain attacks, we thought you were going to be an recluse for the rest of your life” Clint said, eyes wide in mock amazement.

“Fuck yourself with one of your arrows”

“Mine and Natasha's sex life is none of your business Stark” for the first time in two weeks, Tony actually laughed.

 


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again beautiful people who keep reading this story. I saw a couple comments about whether or not Deadpool is/will be in the story since during last chapter I used the name 'Wilson'. To clarify things: by 'Wilson' I meant 'Sam Wilson'/Falcon, as for Deadpool he may or may not be in some future chapters but for now I apologize, but he isn't around (though if I have an occasion to put him I will, he's one of my favorite characters as well).  
> There is some action in this chapter, and I kind of suck at action scenes so I re-wrote it like five times and it's still in my opinion quite lame. Let me know

Loki fell in other two trances during the next week. In both cases, he sat completely still until it passed. He tried to reach out with his mind, not towards Barton but towards... something else, but he did not feel what he was expecting to feel. It did have some form of intelligence, but it could not be considered a mind. He wasn't sure of how to define it. In both cases, though, the trance started to shatter the moment Stark walked in the room. It could not be a coincidence.

The mortal looked more relaxed. Still very weary of Loki's presence, and after the drunk accident they avoided each other even more than before, but he seemed more at ease. He also didn't come up for food anymore, which probably meant he started eating with his teammates again. Good. Thor had visited once more, bringing some food to be put in the mini fridge. Loki avoided him and even the oaf understood that it was better if he didn't try to engage in a conversation. However Loki quite enjoyed seeing Thor doing a servant work like that.

Apart from the trances and Thor's visit, nothing at all had happened. Loki was bored. More bored than he'd be in a long time. At least in Asgard's dungeons he'd had some books to read, his mother to talk to sometimes. Now he could just pace, and lay still and occasionally damage Stark's property. And with his powers binded he couldn't even truly enjoy the latter.

Loki winced involuntarily when he couldn't avoid seeing his reflection in the bathroom mirror. He had to do something about it.

 

***

 

Tony was doing science with Bruce - and how he'd missed this - when Jarvis notified them of an emergency. It seemed Capsicle and Bird Guy ended up walking straight into a trap set by a group of remaining Hydra employees in a small town, and they had hostages. Cap had called, saying he really needed some back-up. They weren't too far, luckily. Tony and Thor would go there.

Tony was overexcited when he put on his suit. It'd been almost a month now since the last time he went out as Iron Man. Clint had said the truth when he said the rest of the team had even let Tony off of two villain attacks during the last three weeks. He bolted out of the Tower and made some acrobatics to entertain himself and some excited pedestrians, before heading towards Cap's location.

Just as Tony was about to get there, something hit him and made him lose control of the suit for a second.

“The hell was that?” he asked.

“ _It seemed to be a small grenade, sir, though its explosion was quite powerful”_ Jarvis said. Other grenades like the first flew towards Tony, and he had to make some acrobatic flight to avoid all of them.

The attackers were half-hidden on the roof of an abandoned building at the far end of the town. They had grenade launchers and - to Tony's surprise - even a small rocket launcher. And it looked like one of the really good ones, with nice missiles that followed you wherever you went. Oh yes, it had _Stark Industries_ written on it. So a bit old, but probably still functioning. And was now armed and pointed at him. Shit.

Another grenade thrown at him, and as he avoided it and shot a small blast to the men - not strong enough to cause serious damage, but rather meant to incapacitate - they launched the small missile. Tony flew higher, where the grenades couldn't reach him, and tried to avoid the missile. The damn thing was following him, great.

“ _Iron Man, we need your help here!”_ came Steve's voice through the comm link.

“Yeah, well sorry Cap but I had to make a stop along the road” maybe he could make the missile explode against that abandoned factory down there, it looked like it was going to fall apart anyways.

“ _What for?”_

“I have a missile following me, so give me five minutes”

“ _Hydra?”_ Tony thought about the men.

“Nah, wrong uniforms. Look I'll call you later, right now I'm busy” he said. The damn thing had almost managed to hit him this time.

He heard a faint scream. Tony made a quick turn to find the person who made it, and it was enough for him to lose track of the missile. It hit him on his back, making him fall down. He regained his control right before crashing on the ground.

“Status, Jarvis?”

“ _Minor damage to the suit, not enough to threaten its functioning, sir, but I would try to not be hit again”_

“Good” Tony went back from where he'd came from. Those bastards were arming the launcher again. They started with the grenades as soon as the saw him, and Tony flew up until he was out of reach. He stopped mid-air and shot a beam straight to the missile launcher, destroying it.

Now that the biggest problem was dealt with, Tony could concentrate to the single men. There were only seven or eight of them, it shouldn't be hard to knock them out. He moved towards them, but had to stop before shooting. They had taken an hostage, a young man who was trashing against their hold. And where had he come from?

“Woah, there, let go of the boy now” he ordered. They ignored him. The boy - he couldn't be older than twenty - was trying to escape, but they had a gun pointed at him. There was a trail of blood on his forehead. Tony realized he must've been the one who screamed earlier.

“Come down” one of them said, the one pointing the gun “Or he gets hurt”

“Fine, fine, I'm coming” Tony carefully landed on the roof. He kept his hands up, even though he just wanted to punch these people into a coma.

Now that he was this near, he could see there was something off with the guys. First of all, they didn't look like people who are part of some strange criminal organization; no uniforms, no weird symbols, just normal clothes. They didn't even look like people who had any kind of training.

And also, they were just... strange. Their eyes empty and staring, their faces devoid of any expression. They looked more like androids than people. It gave Tony shivers to look straight into those empty eyes.

“So... what are we going to do?” Tony asked. He stepped forward, but stopped when the man with the gun took off the safety, making it clear that he was going to shot the boy any moment now.

“Stay where you are” he said.

“This is pointless, man, what about you just let him go and we deal with your issues by ourselves?” Tony proposed. He was trying to find a way to take this guys out without harming the hostage (who looked like he was about to faint), but those bastards were disposed so that he couldn't just hit any of them without risking.

Just when he was about to say 'fuck it, let's just fly them off the roof', every one of them slowly backed away from him, until they were near the staircase that led down the building.

“Well?” Tony asked. If it wasn't for the gun pointed at someone, it would be comical.

“You... You are not a serious threat, Tony Stark” the man with the gun said.

“No? Trust me, I can be a pretty serious-” the man shot, hitting the boy in his stomach. He screamed and curled on himself. Tony cursed, sprinting towards him. The man who'd been holding him threw the poor guy off the roof.

Tony wasn't sure what the hell was happening, but right now it wasn't the moment to make questions. He launched himself down the roof and managed to grab the boy before he hit the ground. He flew back up, lying him down carefully. The wound was bleeding badly, he was losing consciousness.

“Cap! I have a problem here!” he said, through the comm link “There's a man dying, I need to take him to a doctor!”

“ _What are you waiting for?”_ Tony took him into his arms again. He stirred.

“There was... a light...” he moaned.

“Not now, don't speak” Tony hushed.

“...it was so pretty... and it's voice was... nice...”

“I said no talking. Jarvis, where is the nearest hospital?”

“ _I have set the course to it, sir”_ Tony took off.

“Jarvis, notify someone of those bastards running away”

“ _Already did, sir”_ Tony didn't say anything, just flew faster. The boy was slipping in and out of consciousness.

“You're gonna be ok, don't worry” he said. He hoped, at least. He couldn't let him die.

The flight to the hospital was unbelievably long. Even at maximum speed, Tony couldn't shake the feeling he wasn't going to be fast enough. The moment he saw it, he had to glance down at the boy to be sure he was still alive. His eyes were closed and his breaths ragged, his face was basically gray, but he wasn't dead.

Tony went straight inside the building, making everyone stop dead in their tracks.

“He needs a doctor, right now!” he shouted, and soon someone ran to him with a stretcher. He laid the boy down, and a crowd of people brought him away, saying something in hospitalese. Tony followed them until they went inside an operating room. Tony looked around, found a free chair and sat down, ignoring the stares of the people around.

“Cap?” he called.

“ _You'll tell us what's happened later, now we have problems. Nothing we and Thor can't handle”_ Steve panted, and he heard gunshots and screams through the comm link _“How is he?”_

“We arrived at the hospital now, I'll let you know” Tony took off his face plate. He looked around and found a magazine. If he had to wait, he might has well read about some stupid celebrity's problems and keep his head off of what was happening. Or about his own problems of two months ago, it seemed.

 

***

 

After Tony had read all the magazines in the room and was about to start thinking about the reality of the moment - and he'd really rather not to -, he heard some turmoil and saw Steve in full Captain America uniform walking towards him. The super soldier was covered in dirt, and had stains that suggested someone was bleeding before he came here. He sat in the chair next to Tony's.

“Care to tell me what happened? You stop because someone attacked you, and when we ask Jarvis what's happening he says some guys shot someone and then you let them go away like this”

“I needed to take him to the hospital, he was dying” Tony said, ignoring the iPhones taking photos of the two superheroes.

“Yes, but then you could've gone back and stopped them, they couldn't have gone that far”

“I think any kind of authority that finds them will have no problem taking them in” Steve looked dubious “Hey, if it wasn't for the hostage I would have taken them down in a minute or two”

“So people who basically wouldn't be a threat for anyone attack you with grenades?” Tony nodded “Sorry, but this story seems pretty weird to me” Steve whispered.

“When was the last time something normal happened to us?” Tony retorted.

“To me personally around the 40's” Tony snorted “Let's say weirder than usual”

“Was that a joke Steve? I'm impressed, you're growing a sense of humor” in that moment, a nurse came out of the operating room and approached the two heroes, clearly nervous.

“Your friend is out of surgery, Mr Stark. He's under meds right now, but he's out of danger” she said, blushing.

“Ok, then, here's my number” Tony gave her a piece of paper where he'd written it on “Call me when he's awake, will ya dear?” he offered her a flirty smile. She took the number and nodded, her face redder than Tony's suit. She was a pretty woman, and Tony could've made some thoughts about her once. Now he couldn't, and he mentally cursed Loki and Odin and all the other Norse deities he knew of. Again.

“Why so interested?” Steve asked as they made their way out of the hospital.

“Uh?”

“You're not usually so concerned about the people you save” Tony shrugged.

“He may know something about the other guys, and I'm really interested in that”

“Yeah, maybe he does” Steve stopped right outside the building “You're going back to the Tower?”

“Yep. Need a lift?” Steve shook his head.

“That last trail was a dead end, but I still have a couple leads. Sam however will go back, one of his wings was damaged and he needs you to repair it. Thor gave him a lift to the Tower”

“Go search for your boyfriend then” Tony said. Steve's cheeks became of a much darker pink, but he eyed Tony carefully.

“I still don't know what he could've done, you know that right?” Tony sighed and looked away.

“Yeah, I know, but I guess you'll never find out unless you ask him, right?” Tony was aware of the possibility that the Winter Soldier might be the responsible for the accident that killed his parents, Cap had told him right after he'd found out. It was a thought he didn't like, even though he never really had that much of an emotional attachment to them, but it was still just an unconfirmed theory, so he'd give the guy the benefit of the doubt.

“Right. See you, Tony” Tony made a military salute, thing that never failed to piss off Steve, and left for the Tower.

 

***

 

There were pieces of glass shattered all over the bathroom floor. Tony sighed. He'd come here to take a quick shower and then head to the workshop but no, now he had to argue with Loki. He knew a conversation with him was something he couldn't avoid forever, but he kind of liked to run from his problem rather than face them. Especially after their heart-to-heart a week ago.

“Tell me, did you see Bloody Mary crawling out of the mirror and decided to take safety measures?” Tony asked, finding the god - _Jotun_ \- lying on the couch with a bored expression. Loki raised an eyebrow.

“I don't think I know who this blood covered lady is nor why or how she would crawl out of the mirror” he said.

“Never mind. Let's put it this way, there was a good reason to smash my mirror or were you just bored?”

“I was bored” Loki replied “Is it everything?”

“Can't you find something to do with your time that doesn't involve smashing things?” Tony snapped.

“I assure you, if I indeed spent all of my time destroying things you would probably have to rebuild this whole place” Loki gestured around himself, as to emphasize his point. Tony crossed his arms.

“Can't you, I don't know, watch television like all the normal kids do?” Loki narrowed his eyes and sat up.

“I do not even know what this television you speak about is”

“Right, alien. Just tell me something you like to do that can keep you occupied” Tony was already exasperated.

“I like to read” Loki answered, quietly. Tony was almost taken aback by the fact that the trickster had actually given him an answer instead of snapping at him. We were getting better at communication, it seemed.

“Good. Jarvis, find a StarkPad and put some books on it” Tony said.

“ _Did you have in mind any reading in particular?”_ the AI replied.

“Nah, just whatever you want to. No, wait, put it something on what is a television and how to use it in there. Now, Bambi” Tony addressed Loki again “I'll give you a nice little toy with a lot of books on it, so I hope you'll be happy”

“I highly doubt that, Stark” Loki snarled. For some reason Tony found himself agreeing on the statement.

“Your problem, not mine. Also, you stink” Loki glared. Which when you had deep, red eyes was quite scary. Tony just glared back.

“I do not”

“You've been wearing the same clothes for almost three weeks now”

“You might not believe it, but I do wash myself” Tony rolled his eyes at that.

“And then get back into those things; trust me I know how long it's acceptable to wear the same clothes without stinking like a walking trash bag and three weeks it's too long. I admit you are handling better than I would, still I'm starting to know where you are by nose” Loki's face was the representation of _pissed_.

“Well Stark, I am not fond of wearing dirty clothes either and if I had any others I would indeed change, but in case you haven't noticed these are the only ones I own at the moment” that was a good point.

“Couldn't you bring something when you came here?”

“It is tradition that you should provide me for any need I may have, hence yes, I _couldn't_ bring anything with me” _fuck traditions_ Tony thought.

“I'm not omniscient, you know? Maybe if someone actually told me things I wouldn't have to ask” the glare match started again from where they'd left off. Tony sighed “Fine, I'll buy you clothes”

“I'm not fond of Midgardian garments” ok Tony, keep calm and do not try to strangle the alien sitting on your couch.

“Ok, so I'll show you some stuff and you'll tell me what your godly tastes deem acceptable for you to wear” Loki scoffed.

“Very well”

“In the mean time, I have a wardrobe full of clothes, _please_ put on some of those for a while because I really wasn't joking when I said you stink and it's not like anyone can come here making fun of you” Tony said. He turned around and went to the bathroom before Loki could reply.

The water pressure enough to relax his muscles. He had bruises on his side where the missile hit him earlier. He poked at them and winced. Now let's just hope he didn't step on a broken glass walking out of the shower. He should make a robot come here and clean it up.

To Tony's mild surprise and amusement, Loki had already took off his clothes (which Tony made a point to throw into laundry the moment he had the occasion) and was now wearing a baggy Metallica t-shirt and sweatpants that were at least ten centimeters too short.

“I am ridiculous” he declared, looking down at himself.

“No one is ridiculous with a Metallica t-shirt” Tony said heading to the workshop, leaving a very confused God of Mischief behind.

 


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So. First of all, important service notice.  
> *READ HERE A SECOND GUYS PLEASE*  
> I'm going to holiday with my family for a couple weeks, I'll be around basically only with my mobile phone so I don't think I'll be able to update until I come back home, which is on the 25th. If I manage to get a good Wi-Fi and a moment to do it, I'll post the next chapter earlier than that, but I can't guarantee anything. Have patience please.  
> *END OF IMPORTANT SERVICE NOTICE*  
> In other news, I'm taking up the rating from 'M' to 'E'. Yes, there'll be hot moments in later chapters, but I'm not telling you when. Just wait for it if it's something that might interest you. And that's it, that's all I had to say.

Tony found Thor munching Pop Tarts in the communal kitchen while he went to the workshop. He was under the impression the Aesir was avoiding him. He couldn't really blame him since Tony himself had been avoiding everyone for two weeks straight, and even now he wasn't exactly of company, but he needed the Asgardian right now. Also Tony was the official jerk of the Tower, not Thor.

“Hey Point Break, you have a sec?” he asked, leaning against the doorway.

“Man of Iron! Of course” he said, and Tony rolled his eyes. Why the hell did he always have to call him in weird ass ways? 'Man of Iron', then there was 'Son of Howard', which was the worst one; 'Friend Stark', which was just weird; and 'Brother Tony', which... Oh fuck, he _was_ 'Brother Tony' now. Disturbing.

“Good, can you come with me?” he said, seeing Clint perched on the table.

“What is it?” Thor asked, once they were away from Clint's hearing aids range. Even if probably the archer would just crawl inside an air duct and try to listen anyways.

“This thing here” Tony said, raising his right arm and shaking the chain in front of Thor's face “I get it, it's a matrimonial stuff and all that, but what is it made of exactly? I mean, it's always freezing cold”

“It is a magical material” Thor said, and duh, Tony would have never guessed that “It is cold for as long as your spouse is safe. When one's spouse is in danger, then the chain shall grow warmer” Tony frowned.

“Ok, so the fact that it's always cold means Loki is all safe and sound” Thor nodded “Wow. Any other things you can tell me?”

“Everyone's chain has a different shape, symbolizing the person one is tied to”

“And how exactly do three threads symbolize your bro?”

“The reason a chain takes one shape is not always clear” Thor said.

“Speaking of brothers and things not clear” Tony interrupted “Is there any specific reason you didn't think about telling me Loki is a completely different race from yours?” Thor looked guilty. Why was he always looking guilty these days. Oh, right, because he'd actually done something not really good.

“I did not deem it important. Has Loki told you?”

“No, but you two had a quite loud conversation a while ago and Jarvis recorded it” Tony admitted.

“You spied on us” Thor said, now looking offended.

“Yeah, well, I spied on you and you omitted important infos, are we even?”

“I would rather you do not listen to mine and Loki's conversations again” Tony scoffed.

“First of all, you're in _my_ Tower, you know perfectly well that everything that goes on in here is under surveillance and if anything important happens Jarvis tells me, so if you want to talk about stuff you don't want me to find out you'd better chose somewhere else to do it. Second, what conversations are we talking about?” Thor's face darkened.

“Me and my brother may not be on good terms right now, but we still have the right to some privacy”

“Yes, as I have the right to decide by myself who do I want to spend my life with. Don't argue with me right now, I have a lot of pent up rage and I'm just waiting for an excuse to let it all out” Tony warned. Thor looked at him like he was about to punch him, but then relaxed.

“I suppose I should have told you about Loki's heritage” he said.

“Yes, you should” Tony confirmed “By the way, my resources on what a 'Jotun' is are quite scarce”

“Jotuns are Asgard's enemies” Thor started, taking the hint “Conflicts between our Realms have existed throughout all of our history. Centuries ago, there has been a great war between Asgard and Jotunheimr. Asgard won, and my father brought Loki from his Realm and adopted him when he was an infant”

“Why? Another peace-making tradition?” Tony asked.

“Nay. Jotuns are not called Frost Giants without reason, they are far bigger than humans. By their standards, Loki is a runt. He was abandoned at birth, he would have died if it hadn't been for my father's pity”

“It's all very advanced out there, isn't it?” Tony commented. Forced weddings, weak babies left to die, was there also a Realm where they still burnt witches?

“Jotuns are barbaric people. There are rumors about their society, which I am not certain are true, but do sound terrific” Thor said.

“Cool” Tony said. He crossed his arms on his chest. If all Thor knew were unconfirmed rumors then Tony would gladly stop listening about now. He was a scientist, he liked facts, not urban legends. And if those people hated each other so much, then whatever one said about the other would probably be just negative propaganda.

“Is there anything else you wish to know?” Thor asked.

“No, I'm fine” Tony waved and left for his workshop. He hadn't really gotten any good answers out of Thor, but he had the feeling even the Aesir wasn't so prepared on the subject of “alien races”. Given what had happened the first time they'd shown the god a toaster, Tony really wondered why he even bothered to ask.

Oh well, now at least he could spend a completely unhealthy amount of time closed in his workshop without thinking about gods or Jotuns or weird ass people who attack him with his old weapons... Not that he wasn't at least curious about the last one, but dwell on it would probably result more frustrating than anything.

“Hey Tony!” Sam Wilson was waiting right outside of Tony's workshop. He was still in combat uniform and he had a nasty cut on his cheekbone.

“Sammy, what can I do for you?” Tony asked.

“A Hydra jerk managed to get a good shot at my wings and broke one, can you repair it?” Tony smiled.

“Are you seriously asking me if I _can_?” Tony took the mechanical wings from Sam's hands “You'll have your wings back by tomorrow, Birdie”

“Thanks” Sam said.

“Don't mention it” Tony passed Wilson and decided that he might as well give the wings some little improvements.

“ _Sir?”_

“Jarvis, I just set foot in my workshop, I'm sure it can wait and if it can't I don't care, it'll wait anyways”

“ _But Mr Stark-”_

“No buts, Jar. Put on a random playlist and let me work. Oh, and block all access to this place” Tony had long since learned that if he put on 'wait' urgent stuff people (more specifically: Steve, Natasha and Pepper) would come barging into his workshop, so to be safe he shut everyone out.

“ _Very well, sir, but I don't think this is your smartest idea”_ Jarvis finally shut up and let the music start. Tony hummed along as he went back to work.

 

***

 

It was downright humiliating for Loki to be wearing this mortal's clothes. He had been tempted to keep on his old ones just to annoy Stark, but even  Loki had to admit they were actually stinking. And  while he was very  un inhibited , nakedness was not  an option he wanted to take in consideration. So until Stark deemed it time to buy Loki new ones, the trickster would just have to wear the hero's.

Despite the logic of the solution, Loki was already very irritated. Not only because of the fact of wearing those clothes in itself, but also because they were simply so unfamiliar and of a completely wrong size. The trousers were too large for his hips and kept lowering, but they were also too short. And the... t-shirt was short, too. It barely reached the hem of his trousers.

Loki huffed. He had picked the first clothes he'd found, but if he ever had to wear Stark's again then he'd have to choose a bit more carefully. At least they were clean.

The elevator stopped and Loki heard someone coming out of it. He frowned. Stark had just left, so it couldn't be him. The robot that cleaned the floor had already come two days ago, and the only person who ever set foot here was Thor, but Loki knew the Thunderer's footsteps and this wasn't him.

Frowning, Loki hid in behind the doorway of the hallway and listened.

“Tony? Are you here?” a female voice called. A young woman walked straight inside the room, not looking at the spot where Loki was.

“I'm afraid Stark is not here at the moment” Loki said. The woman jumped and spun around. She stared at him wide-eyed.

“You are Loki, I suppose” she said, taking a deep breath. She straightened her back and looked at him like his presence wasn't bothering her at all. Which was obviously not true, but it was a nice try.

“You are correct. May I ask who you are?” Loki was curious. She wasn't one of the Avengers and she didn't look to be part of SHIELD. A friend of Stark, maybe? 

“Pepper Potts, CEO of the Stark Industries. I suppose I will just... go now. Good evening” she said, walking away.

“Good evening” Loki greeted. He frowned. He'd already heard that name before, maybe Barton had told him.

 

***

 

“ _Mr Stark, Miss Potts is trying to access the workshop. I would suggest on let her come in”_ Jarvis's voice startled Tony.

“Yeah, let her in” he said on reflex, before kicking himself. He wasn't psychologically ready for seeing her. The familiar noise of Pepper's heels clicking on the floor approached him. A little pang of something halfway between guilt and sadness hit him in the chest with every sound. Tony turned around and smiled.

“Tony” she said. She had heavy bags under her eyes, but otherwise she looked great.

“Hey, Pep. How's it going?” he asked, fidgeting awkwardly from one foot to the other.

“Not bad. How are you?” Tony shrugged.

“Amazing, you know that”

“I'm not joking Tony” she said with an eye-roll.

“What can I say, life goes on, I work, I do hero stuff and I try to ignore the creepy giant Smurf in my room” he replied, turning back on his work. God, when did things become so awkward between them?

“Yes, I met him” Tony almost let the screwdriver he had in hand fall down.

“You what?” he gasped.

“I met him, I... didn't think about asking Jarvis where you were, I went to your floor first and he told me you weren't there” she said. She looked uncomfortable.

“Oh. Ok. Did he threaten you or insult you?”

“No, I think I left before he had the occasion” she said “By the way, why is he blue?”

“Because he decided he wants to be blue, maybe he saw Avatar and now he's a fan” Tony replied. He was pretty confused on the matter too. Probably blue was a Jotun's natural color, that didn't explain why Loki would decide to switch to Smurf mode now.

“Yes, of course. Look, I have some paperwork you should sign, you don't need to read it even though it would be really appreciated” Pepper said, handing him a StarkPad.

“Really? C'mon Pepper, you know I don't like being handed things” Tony whined, picking the device all the same because if Pepper says “sign this” you don't argue, you just do it. He manged to avoid any sort of direct contact between their hands.

“Also, there's a charity event in a week”

“I don't wanna go”

“You don't have choice”

“Yes, I do”

“No, you don't. You come, you stay there and try to act like a human being for two or three hours and then I'll let you hide back in here”

“Can I bring my suit?”

“No”

“Can I come in jeans and t-shirt?”

“No, you have to put on a suit, the classical type”

“I can't come” Tony said, handing her back the signed paperwork he hadn't even bothered to take a look at “Reindeer Games decided to destroy my nice clothes a while ago”

“It's a terrible lie” Pepper said. Tony didn't answer “Seriously? Why?”

“He was bored, probably. He tends to have destructive tendencies when he's bored, you should see what happened to the mirror” Tony explained.

“Buy new ones” Pepper said, unfazed.

“Pep!” he whined.

“Just do as I say, Tony” she smiled, even if a bit sadly “It's an important occasion Tony. Do it for me, please?” Tony swallowed.

“Yeah. Sure. I'll come” he said, trying to will away the hand that was painfully squeezing his guts.

“Good. I'll see you there then. I'll order you a couple new suits” she looked away.

“Thanks Pep, you're the best” she smiled. For a moment, it looked like she was about to give him a kiss, but then she just turned and left.

Tony sighed and slumped against his table the moment the door slided close. He needed a drink. Or two. Or twelve.

“ _Sir?”_

“What is it Jar?”

“ _I've put the books on the StarkPad like you asked”_ Tony groaned.

“Send him up then”

“ _Sir, Mr Laufeyson will probably need help in understanding how the StarkPad works”_

“You're joking” Tony brought a hand up to massage his eyes.

“ _No, sir”_

“Fine, I'll go up and show him how to read, but then you'll leave me alone to work for at least two days without bothering me unless there's an alien invasion, capisce?” Tony said. And if there was indeed an alien invasion Tony would kick every single alien ass personally.

“ _As you wish, sir”_ Tony took the StarkPad in a corner of his workshop (he had a lot of spare ones lying around) and exited his workshop. He ignored Bruce who was walking out of his lab and went to his floor.

Loki was sitting at the bar. He was eating an apple and didn't even turn around when Tony approached him. Tony resisted the urge to mock him at the way his t-shirt was riding up his back.

“Hey Rock of Ages, I hope you're not too occupied right now 'cause I have a little thing to show you” Tony said, sitting down next to the Jotun. The air felt strangely cold this close to Loki.

“I congratulate with you, Stark, you have managed to annoy me in the only moment I was actually doing something” Loki said, putting down his apple and turning to regard Tony with his 'I'm-so-more-fabulous-than-you' stare.

“I'm _so_ sorry I interrupted your royal dinner, you can't even imagine how much” Tony deadpanned “This is a StarkPad. It's yours now, don't thank me I have tons of them”

“I wouldn't dream of it” Tony glared.

“Please, tell me your secret for being so lovely” he said.

“Why, you have already figured it out by yourself” Loki replied, with the same glare.

“Is that a compliment to my intelligence?”

“No, an insult to your manners” Tony gave him an obnoxious smile.

“I guess I've already picked some bad habits from you then” Loki narrowed his eyes, looking borderline murderous. For some reason Tony wasn't really impressed. Instead, he opted for showing Loki how to read books on the StarkPad, all the while trying to be as boring and annoying as possible.

“Yes, Stark, I understood what you said, now can you shut up before I decide to throw you out of window another time?” Loki growled, after Tony made a show of demonstrating how the whole thing worked for the third time. Tony put a hand on his chest and looked Loki with exaggerated fake offense.

“Why would you use such violence against me? I'm just trying to be nice, but I see that maybe nice isn't what you're looking for in a partner” stupid joke. For a moment, Tony thought Loki was really about to throw him out of the window. He heard a little noise, and looking down he saw that Loki had gripped the edge of the table so hard that it had small indentations. There was also a thin layer of ice covering it.

“I can ignore your jests, Stark, but only until a certain point. If I were you, I would not go past it” Loki growled, his face near Tony's. The genius shivered. It seemed that the place was getting colder.

“Man, it was a joke! Where's your sense of humor?” Loki glared at him for other two seconds, before taking the StarkPad and walking away. Tony didn't frankly know where the hell had that joke come from; he would probably have a reaction similar to Loki's if someone made fun of the situation they were in. But hey, if he couldn't joke about his own problems, what could he joke about?

He leaned down to observe the point where Loki had been gripping the table. He ran a finger over it, shivering when he felt the cold ice against his skin.  So Frost Giants can make thing freeze. Cool. In all senses of the word.  Tony wiped his hand many times over the ice. His body heat didn't do anything to melt it.  He blew some warm air over it. His breath crystallized when it came in contact with the ice. Who knows what kind of substance was that.

Tony was still observing the frozen spot when someone put a hand on his shoulder. He made a sound he'd never admit making and turned around, seeing Thor. Thor. He was so concentrated that he didn't fucking hear _Thor_ coming in. The Asgardian walked louder than Hulk.

“Jeez, what the hell man?” he asked. Maybe years of loud music were finally catching up with his hearing.

“I'm sorry Son of Howard, have I startled you?” Thor said (probably as surprised about it as Tony was).

“It's ok. What's up?” Tony asked.

“There have been news about the man you saved today, and the Doctor Banner has sent me to inform you” Thor said.

“Is he awake?” Tony stood up.

“Nay” Thor shook his head “I am sorry”

“Then what's happening?”

“He has died” Thor said. Tony blinked.

“Nah. The nurse said he was out of danger, he can't be dead”

“He is” Thor said “But not because of his injuries. It appears some one has killed him while the healers where not in the room”

 


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello guys! Sorry for the long wait, but I had to stay away from Internet for a while. Blame it on the hotel I was staying at.  
> This chapter is officially the longer I have written so far for this story, and I hope the content will make you happy because yeah, we're moving forward with the plot. Finally, you say. Well, we still have a long way to go but at least there's something. Now I leave you to the story with the hope that you'll like the chapter and that the idiot that's been singing off-key out of my house for the last half an hour will shut his mouth.

“We... we don't know how it could happen, no one saw anything” a nurse said. Tony had flew to the hospital the moment Thor had told him what had happened. Apparently someone had come inside the boy's room, stabbed him and disappeared without anyone noticing them.

“Don't you have some surveillance in this place?” Tony asked.

“Yes, but we already checked and nothing strange happened” a doctor explained. Tony bit his lower lip.

“Let me understand this, someone had come, bypassed your surveillance, killed a patient and disappeared without anyone seeing anything?” he said.

“Y-Yes?” Tony sighed. He wanted to scream against these two morons, but he steeled himself and managed to keep it in.

“Be happy this place isn't mine or a crazy amount of people would be fired by now. Let me see the body”

“But Mr Stark-”

“Just do it” the doctor and the nurse looked at each other, before letting Tony inside the room. The authorities hadn't arrived yet, so nothing had been moved.

The boy (and how young was he again?) was on his bed, eyes closed. There were various red gashes on his chest. The covers had been thrown to the ground. Droplets of blood were staining the wall behind the bed. The killer had been very... forceful about the whole thing.

Tony wanted to throw up. He wasn't sure if it was disgust or anger, and towards whom, if the killer or himself. He forced himself to look anyway, taking in the stains and the paleness of the body. In the end, it was the smell that made him go away. Hospital smell and blood. Unbearable.

“I want to know exactly what happened, who did this and how did he get in here, clear?” Tony ordered. The doctor nodded, terrified. Tony left without another word.

He didn't go back to he Tower. Rather he decided to fly at maximum speed, making as many acrobatics as he could, hoping that maybe this would be enough to finally make the bile rising in his throat reach his mouth. Cleaning the inside of the suit would be a bitch, but he didn't care. At least he'd have something to distract him.

That boy didn't deserve to die. He had been maybe eighteen. Tony had tried to save him, and this was the result. In a sense, it was as if Tony himself had killed him. If he hadn't been flying around there, then those psychos wouldn't have taken him as an hostage and he would be... Doing whatever he liked to do. He didn't even know what was his name. Maybe now his friends or his parents were searching for him. Maybe he had siblings, or a girlfriend.

Fuck, Tony had been emotionally unstable for the better part of a month now, this wasn't going to make things any better. He had even let those guys go away to save that boy, and he had failed. He should fly himself inside the fucking ocean.

“ _Sir, incoming call from Doctor Banner”_ Jarvis alerted, interrupting for a moment Tony's self-hatred party.

“Put him on” Tony said, forcing a neutral expression on his face. Bruce's concerned one appeared in a corner of his vision.

“ _How do you feel Tony?_ ” he asked. Straight to the point Brucie.

“Like I'm about to be sick, and I really don't wanna do it on your face so tell me quickly what's happening” Tony said, seeing no point in lying. He decided to play the beautiful game 'how-close-can-I-get-to-that-without-crashing' while he talked.

“ _We're just concerned about you_ ”

“We?”

“ _Me and the rest of the team_ ”

“No need for that, I can handle myself”

“ _Closing yourself inside your workshop doesn't count as a good way of handling yourself_ ” Bruce said. Tony huffed.

“When did you became Pepper?”

“ _Just talk to someone, Tony. I know you have a lot of things going on right now, and letting it out can be really helpful. Maybe try speaking with Sam_ ”

“I'll remember that. Later Brucie” Tony ended the call and let his fake smile fall.

There were some woods not far from there. Tony flew to a small clearance and landed. He raised a hand and shot a tree. Then another. And another. Soon the clearance was twice the size it had been when Tony had arrived. And he still hadn't calmed down. He kept shooting. He couldn't give a fuck less about nature right now.

 

***

 

Thor had tried to speak with him, but Loki's glare had been enough to send the Aesir away. Even he was clever enough to know when it was time to stay far from Loki unless he desired a painful death. And when Loki's mood had just worsened when he almost fell into yet another trance soon after Stark's departure.

Loki was still angry with Stark. The mortal's constant jesting and mockery he cold endure, but the fact that he shamelessly made fun of this situation? That was something Loki could not tolerate. The fact that they were in it together did not mean Stark had any right to be relaxed about it. Loki had wondered for a moment what he could do as a retaliation, but eventually decided to just wait until a favorable occasion. In the meantime, he decided to amuse himself with the device Stark had given him.

Loki had to admit the StarkPad was actually a nice distraction. He had decided to start reading some Midgardian history first, since the last time he had come to this Realm before Thor's banishment had been two or three centuries ago, and he wanted - _needed_ \- to understand its society. The text he had chosen was not very specific, but covered a good part of Midgard's early history. He was reading about the beginning of the Roman Empire, and he was almost shocked at how different things were on this Realm only two thousands years ago. He was younger than that, but he knew that Asgard hadn't been very different from today at those times. Though he supposed it was only normal, given the shortness of a Midgardian lifespan, that changes happened this quickly.

His eyes were tired. He blinked a couple times, but it was no use. He had had only two hours of sleep during the last five days, and even for an Aesir (he refused to think of himself as a Jotun) it was tiring. He put down the StarkPad. Stark was out, so he supposed he could allow himself some sleep. He would never do so if the mortal was here. A memory of what haunted his dreams these days made him wonder if he could stay up a little longer. He scoffed. He wasn't a coward, despite what the Warrior Three and Sif may say, and he wasn't going to run from his own dreams.

He wondered for a moment whether he should keep on these clothes or not, but eventually decided to sleep with them. The sooner they dirtied, the sooner would Stark decide to give him some clothes of his own. At least he hoped.

He hadn't realized how tired he truly was until he hit the bed. He curled on himself and dozed off in a matter of minutes.

 

“ _Look at me!”_

“ _What is happening?”_

“ _Look at what I can do, look!”_

“ _I am looking-” screams. Red, red, red everywhere, and he cannot breathe. He couldn't move, couldn't tear his eyes away, not when the first red stain appeared, not even when he saw skin opening and those sounds, those sickening sounds that kept echoing in his head._

“ _Loki”_

“ _No, no, no-” the horror was subsiding, and there was something else, something more vicious and vindictive and no, no, do not come near me, stay away-_

“ _You can not run from me” he screamed, and trashed, but he felt it gripping him, he could not escape-_

 

Loki screamed and sat on the bed. It took him a couple seconds to understand where he was and what just happened. Dreams. Nightmares.

He forced himself to take deep breaths. He wouldn't allow himself to surrender to his terrors. With every movement the ice he had accidentally created during his nightmare cracked, and coupled with his heavy breathing covered every other sound for some long seconds.

“You ok Bambi?” Loki jolted on the opposite side of the bed. Stark was standing near the spot where he'd been lying, frowning.

“Stark!” Loki said. How long had the mortal been there? He had not noticed his presence. Loki's heart still was pounding in fear and shock.

“In the flesh. Bad dream I guess” Stark asked. Was that... concern on his face? No, it couldn't be.

“It is none of your business” Loki hissed, trying to regain some control over himself.

“You were shouting. Maybe it's not my business, but it wasn't exactly hard to notice” Stark said.

“How long were you there?”

“A couple minutes. I'd have waked you up, but I'm not in a hurry of becoming Capsicle 2.0” Stark pointed at the bed. Loki looked down and saw that ice had covered it all, together with part of the floor. Hot shame made his cheeks burn, and he hoped his current form would hide any kind of blush. Every time he had managed to forget for a while his heritage, it came back to him in the worst forms.

“I thought you were away” he said, trying to change the subject.

“Sweet of you to worry about me, but I came here to take a drink and heard you from the living room” Stark shrugged. He looked uncomfortable.

“I am fine” Loki hissed. He did not need nor want Stark's concern or mockery or whatever this was.

“Whatever you say” the mortal replied, leaving the room.

Loki waited until he was sure the mortal was not coming back in the room. Only then he went to the bathroom, his knees still a little weak. The mirror had yet to be replaced, and Loki was thankful for this. His hands were trembling and he had to lean against the sink.

Cold water would not help him, but hot water would be enough to recover his senses from the dream. He let out a gasp. The water was as hot as fire against his skin, and he didn't have doubts that the heat would make his face purplish, but it served the purpose of snapping him out of his head.

Now that he was more coherent, he desired to disappear from the face of the universe. Had Stark really saw him during his nightmare? The idea made him more ashamed and angry than ever. It didn't matter that he himself had watched Stark during the mortal's night terror, he did not feel any better. He had shown weakness in front of Stark, something he could not forgive himself.

He came out of the bathroom and stalked out of the bedroom, decided to not spend any more time in there. To his surprise, Stark was sitting on the couch, two glasses of Midgardian mead in front of himself. The mortal raised his head when he heard Loki.

“Hey, Elsa. Come here a moment, will ya?” Stark patted the couch next to where he was sitting.

“Is it so complicated for you to call somebody with their name, instead of these nicknames I often have problems understanding?” Loki hissed, eyeing the mortal carefully has he moved to sit next to him. He could not understand what was Stark trying to do, but he was curious. And if it turned out to be some kind of mockery the mortal would pay for it. Dearly.

“Names are boring” Stark picked up the two glasses and handed one to Loki. He watched it carefully, and Stark huffed “Look, I still owe you a drink and I figured this would be a good time as any” Loki raised his eyebrow, but accepted the drink. He took a careful sip from it. The taste was acceptable. It was far from strong enough to affect him, but the alcohol in it was still enough to make his Jotun throat burn.

“Is it everything?” he asked. Stark gulped down half of his drink.

“Look Reindeer Games” he began “I think we started with the wrong foot. You don't like me and I'd be lying if I said I don't have a long list of people I'd rather spend my time with. But I suppose that as long as we're stuck like this, we may as well try to act like civil human beings. At least, I act like a human being, you... well, you get the concept” Stark made a strange gesture with his hand. Loki noticed he had tied some cloth around his wrist to cover the chain. Interesting solution, he shall copy him.

“I do. And tell me, what is your idea of acting like a human being?”

“It means we try to be at least vaguely civil to one another. Like, if you could avoid blowing up my stuff I'd be really grateful for that” Stark said. Quite an unfair deal, if you asked Loki.

“I don't promise anything. But I do wonder why you brought it up now” Loki said.

“Well, it's been kind of a hard day for me, and from what I get you aren't doing 100% fine either, so I guess it's just because of this, that if you don't purposefully make my days any worse like you did all this time, I'll do the same, and I'm no god but if you piss me off I'll make you pay”

“I assure you Stark, I am completely fine” Loki growled. Stark looked at him doubtfully.

“Me too, but I probably wouldn't be so great if I had slipped on that ice you summoned earlier. Which is mind blowing, like how do you even do that? I get it, magic and you Jotuns probably have some weird ass mojo that's weirder than the rest-”

“Jotun?” Loki interrupted, suddenly tense “How do you know that term?” why did he always have to be reminded of it, why? Stark made a dismissal gesture.

“Jarvis told me and Thor confirmed. Anyway, how do you get so cold to create ice? It goes against basically everything I know about biology, which isn't much, mind you, actually I usually quite hate biology, but if you were even vaguely similar to humans your body would be made for at least 75% of water, but that's impossible 'cause then you wouldn't be able to go even near those temperatures. Not to mention the fact that you can apparently change your body temperature however you want, and yes, I know there are things that can do that too, but usually you're warm enough for me to touch you without problem and then you fucking freeze an entire room, how can you do that and survive? This is not really my greatest interest, like I usually stay as far away from biology and stuff as I can but come on, you guys are fascinating, you'd make anyone with the vaguest interest in science crazy with curiosity” Stark stopped his ramblings, breathing in deeply. His cheekbones had become slightly red.

“Do you ever stop talking?” Loki asked, blinking dumbly. The amount of words coming out of this man's mouth was unbelievable, not to mention that he was apparently amazed by his Jotun nature. Loki could not understand why would he be so captivated, Jotuns were monsters - _you're a monster_ \- and even Loki himself, despite his thirst of knowledge, never had any interest in them. How could someone be so fascinated by such disgusting beings was beyond Loki's understanding.

“When I sleep, when I get out of breath and when my mouth is otherwise occupied”

“You actually do speak while you sleep” Loki said. It was true, and quite annoying. One night he had had to suffer a thirty minutes long rant about rock music.

“Don't”

“You do”

“Liar, liar, pants on fire” Loki was sure his eyebrow could not get any further up.

“It is almost painful to listen to you” he said. Stark grinned. Had the mortal took a blow to his head during a fight?

“You're just jealous of my awesomeness” Loki shook his head.

“You are hopeless” Stark stretched his arms. Loki saw the glowing outline of the device inside the mortal's chest.

“You like what you see?” Stark asked, noticing his interest. Well, he _was_ quite attractive, but Loki wasn't going to admit that. And besides, it wasn't the point.

“How did you happen to have that object inside your body?” Stark tensed.

“My arc reactor? It's a long story. I had a little accident in Afghanistan and it resulted in having to put this in there” he said. It was obvious that he did not like the subject. Interesting. Loki had heard of Stark's 'accident' in Afghanistan from Barton, and he already knew it was related to the reactor, so this wasn't very helpful. A plan formed in his mind.

“I have a proposal” Loki said. He knew he was going to regret this, but he was too curious to let the occasion slide “You answer some questions about that device and your technology, and I will answer anything you wish about Jotuns and Asgardian technology” Stark blinked.

“Uh... I don't really like going around telling people about my stuff, but as long as you don't go blurting out everything to somebody I guess it's an equal exchange”

“And to whom should I tell your secrets, Stark? Thor, maybe?” Stark snorted.

“Yeah, right. You think the bed's accessible now? Scratch that, I'll sleep in the other for tonight, and I hope the people up there won't get too pissed. I think Steve will snap my neck if he comes back and hears I've not been sleeping regularly” Stark yawned “'Night Reindeer Games” Loki followed the mortal with his eyes until he disappeared.

It had been an interesting turn of events. Loki had expected mockery about his nightmare when he'd came here, instead now he was going to have informations about Stark's technology. He was still surprised the mortal had not teased him about his dream. In his experience, the consequences of people knowing he had nightmares went from light mockery to downright loathing. He had always been an outcast for Asgardian society, and his night terrors had made him even more of a coward in the eyes of many. He was not even a warrior, most of them said, he could not possibly have seen anything that was horrible enough to haunt his dreams, yet he woke up screaming in the middle of the night. He had tried to hide it, but there were times when he was forced to sleep in close proximity to someone else and they would inevitably find out.

Loki realized his conversation with Stark had chased away both the residual fear and the shame for being found. It had left his self-loathing, maybe even made it greater, but for the first time he felt like his Jotun heritage could actually be of any use. He was still puzzled by Stark's fascination. When he had chosen to come to Midgard in this form, he had done it also because he hoped it would make the mortal as disgusted as possible, and having been proved wrong annoyed him.

Loki played absent mindedly with his matrimonial chain and remembered something. He went to the bedroom - the one he had been sleeping in - and tore off a piece of the sheet. He raised his right arm, and managed to tie it around his wrist using his mouth and his left hand.

 

***

 

Tony pressed his face down in the pillow. It was nice for once to be able to sleep without worrying about the psycho Smurf glaring behind his back.

Today was making it to Top Twenty on Tony's worst days ever. He hated when people died, he hated even more when they were civilians died and worst of all was when they died because he couldn't have saved them. Tony had no idea of just how many people's blood was on his hands because of his weapons, but every time some one got hurt because of Iron Man the guilt for all those deaths resurfaced. Not to mention the awkward as hell conversation with Pepper, that reminded him once again just how fucked up his life was now.

The only thought that had kept Tony from sending himself into alcohol induced coma was that he didn't want to be seen drunk by Loki ever again. Last time had been a blow at his pride. And even knowing that the god could just walk in on him hadn't been enough to prevent him from going for at least one drink.

And then Loki had started shouting. Tony had to admit that the first scream had almost given him an heart attack. So he'd gulped down his scotch and found the Jotun trashing on the bed. It was a fucking terrifying scene, if you asked him. It was like Loki was being tortured, and the ice creeping around the room made it even worst. Not knowing what to do, he'd ended up shouting Loki's name and hoping the Jotun would wake up. Then his superhero instincts had kicked in and before he knew it he was pouring a drink for Loki and deciding to take his mind away from whatever he'd been dreaming about. And so he had, despite the more functioning parts of his brain asking him exactly what the good superhero part was trying to do, and he was quite frankly surprised that he had managed to. He was shit at touchy-feely matters, especially if they were the touchy-feely matters of a psychopath. Did psychopaths even have touchy-feely matters? He should look it up on the Internet.

Tony couldn't say he didn't like how the conversation had ended. He wasn't too happy about saying things about the arc reactor to Loki, but if it meant satisfying his curiosity, then Tony would do it. Curiosity killed the cat, but Tony luckily was a human being and he shouldn't risk too much. Now he just hoped he wouldn't have nightmares of Loki having a nightmare because that would be the top.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Self-promotion because I'm a terrible person and an attention freak: **[this one](http://www.a-weird-rusted-android.tumblr.com/)** is my Tumblr. Follow me if you want. Or, just leave me alone in my corner, whatever.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone! I have to admit I'm not entirely satisfied of how this chapter turned out, but after long consideration I realized that I couldn't make it any better. So here we go.

Tony yelped and jumped out of bed. It was completely undignified, but who could blame him when someone woke him by throwing freezing cold water at him? He landed on his butt, sheets still tangled around his legs.

“What the fuck?” he panted. Loki was standing near the bed, an empty bucket in his hand (there were buckets in the penthouse? Since when?) and what looked like the beginning of a grin “Why the hell would you do that?”

“Because it seemed to me the most affective way of waking you up. And it would be extremely pleasant if you could manage to rouse when Jarvis is calling you, rather than making me come to you” Loki said, his tone sharp and probably meant to make Tony feel like a complete moron. Which he already did, thank you. He was sitting on the ground in his underwear, dripping wet and still messy from his sleep. He really wanted to punch Loki right now.

“You've been callin' me, Jar?” Tony asked.

“ _Yes, sir. For 21 minutes before asking for Mr Laufeyson's help”_ Jarvis answered.

“What time is it?”

“ _It's 9.02, sir”_ Tony made a noise.

“And why the hell would you want me up at this hour?” he groaned.

“ _Because Director Fury is waiting for you in the communal floor and has threatened to come to the penthouse and waking you by violently and repeatedly kicking your rear, sir”_ Tony had the sudden instinct of banging his head against a wall.

“I'm awake, I'm coming” he said, freeing his legs from the sheets “And you. Don't you ever do that again. Why would you even decide to actually help Jarvis waking me up?” Loki scowled.

“You do not give me orders, Stark. And, as you probably already noticed, I find it very enjoyable to annoy you in any way possible” he turned and left the room. Tony scoffed and went to fetch himself some clothes.

In the record time of ten minutes, he was dressed and on his way to the communal floor. He yawned, dragging his feet on the ground as he came out of the elevator.

“Stark, I was starting to think Loki had murdered you” Fury said. Hard to recognize with sunglasses, no eyepatch and normal people clothes, but since he was spending his time undercover it wasn't exactly a bad thing for him.

“You'd like that, wouldn't you?” Tony said, going to the kitchen to make himself a coffee. Or possibly two.

“I need to talk to you” Fury followed Tony like some kind of huge, creepy, unwanted puppy. The image was disturbing. Tony's imagination was always a bit fucked up right after waking up.

“Coffee first, talk later” Tony groaned. Surely even Fury could understand the sanctity of the first cup of coffee of the morning.

“Talk now” no, he didn't. What kind of freak was this man? Tony flipped him his middle finger and started the coffee maker.

“I think that's the best you'll get out of him before he has his coffee, Director” why the hell was Clint perched on the fridge and when did he get there? Tony was pretty sure the archer was nowhere to be seen only one minute before.

“Then make it quick” Fury growled, leaning against the wall and staring at Tony with a promise of horrible death in his face. He probably didn't realize that Tony received a similar look every day, only by a really scarier guy with creepy as hell red eyes.

The inventor made it a point to slow down the process of coffee making just to annoy Fury. He swore he could see a vein pulsating on the Director's forehead as he blew cold air on his coffee, waiting until he was completely sure even a baby wouldn't burn his tongue to drink it, and then taking careful little sips from the cup. Clint was biting his lower lips to prevent himself from laughing. Even if SHIELD technically didn't even exist anymore, Fury was still his boss.

“Are we done?” Fury asked when Tony put down the cup.

“I could take another one. Want some, Nick?”

“I'm not here to hear you joking, Stark” he growled. Tony sighed.

“Fine, fine. I'm all ears” Tony said. Fury glared at Clint and the archer dutifully hopped down the fridge and disappeared “How the hell do you make him do that? I've been trying for ages to find a way to make him come down from my furniture that doesn't involve bribing him with food”

“What is your new husband doing?” Fury said.

“The less I know the happier I am” Tony replied, the word 'husband' putting him on edge in less than a second.

“Then tell me what you know” Tony glared.

“He paces, he reads and occasionally he annoys me. We done?”

“No, we aren't. You say he's not up to anything?” Tony snorted.

“He's the God of Lies, if he doesn't want me to find out something I doubt I'll ever will” he said. Fury crossed his arms, adopting a more intimidating stance.

“I don't like having him without any kind of surveillance” he said.

“There's Jarvis and there's the creepy guy from Asgard”

“You know what I mean”

“Yes, I do” Tony took a step closer to Fury “And since SHIELD went down and you became Director of like ten people, what kind of help would you be if he decided to go nuts? Besides, even if your secret organization still existed, I wouldn't allow your cameras or your bugs in my home even if my own life depended on it. Director” Fury and Tony stared at each other. The Director looked furious. Tony _was_ furious, had been for three weeks now and he was pretty sure that nothing short of blowing up a building could make him finally relax.

“Stop calling me Director. I told you I'm not anymore” Fury said eventually.

“But you refused to tell me or anyone else for the matter any more details on who runs the show now, so I guess I'll stick with it. Is there anything important you wanted to discuss with me, or can I go back to my usual occupations?” Tony asked.

“I have some informations about the people who attacked you yesterday” Fury said. Tony relaxed a bit “And by the way, I shouldn't have to ask Rogers about a mess _you_ made. The authorities captured the attackers and identified a total of five of them until now. An office worker, a teacher, two workmen and a homeless man. No criminal affiliations, no links with most organizations we know of. There are no apparent ties between them, they lived in different cities, they didn't know each other. They all went missing in a time lap between two weeks and five days ago. We hacked into the police computers, apparently they all refuse to answer any question” Tony nodded.

“I want to talk to them”

“You mean you want to beat them to shit” Tony didn't deny it “Let's put it this way, they won't be of any use if they lose their ability to speak and form coherent sentences. We are trying to infiltrate an agent and see if they manage to make them talk, since we technically have no kind of authority anymore” Tony supposed it was acceptable. For now. If SHIELD or whatever didn't manage to get a straight confession about whatever they had to confess soon he'd take the matters in his own hands, Fury be damned. He was already too allowing with people these days.

“You know where they could've taken those weapons?” Tony asked.

“No. They had to have some associates”

“Hydra, maybe? Those guys were annoying Cap not far from where I was attacked, I don't think it's a coincidence” Tony eyed Fury, uncertain if Hydra was some kind of taboo with him.

“It's possible I suppose” Fury said.

“And... the hostage?” Tony asked.

“He's still unidentified” Tony nodded.

“Ok. Now excuse me, I have to do science” Tony closed out anything else Fury might be saying (something about crazy gods, so it wasn't like Tony needed any debriefing really) and opted for shower then science then passing out from lack of sleep. Yeah, sounded good.

“Hey, why is your hair wet?” Clint asked from somewhere not really clear. Given the way his voice sounded, he was probably in the air duct.

“'Cause Smurfy decided he wanted to play water games” Tony grumbled.

“Sounds like fun. By the way, is he always blue?” Tony murmured something as an answer and got inside of the elevator. It was still too early for any of Clint's bullshit.

Loki was reading on the couch. Tony saw the Jotun had copied his denial method and tied something around his own wrist. It was nice to know they had similar opinions on something. And also quite weird. Actually, more weird than nice. It was never a good thing to have the same views a psychopath had.

Tony remembered their little deal from the night before. He wasn't so sure that he wanted to discuss arc reactors, or actually anything, with a crazy god he pretty much hated (feeling that was most probably mutual). But he was sure that he wanted to have some fucking clear ideas on Jotuns and Asgardian magic stuff. This two different feelings were struggling to work out which one Tony should act on, even though he was pretty sure curiosity would win over cautiousness. It always did, since that time Tony was five and decided to play with some stuff he'd found in his father's lab. Tony still had a small scar on his leg because of that. One of the very few times he could remember seeing Howard the slightest bit worried about him.

 

***

 

Loki was torn between hoping that Stark had forgotten their conversation and reminding the mortal of their deal himself. He was getting angrier at himself by the minute. Yesterday night's had been probably one of the worst ideas he ever had. He despised Stark, and despised his Jotun heritage even more. And yet... He was simply too curious about Stark's technology.

He heard some cursing coming from the bedroom. Stark had probably stepped on one of the sharp pieces of the mirror. The mortal should call the cleaning robot before he completely destroyed his feet. Loki smiled inwardly. He hadn't thought about the troubles destroying the mirror would have brought to Stark, but he couldn't say he was disappointed by them.

Loki had some time to think about what he should do while the mortal showered. His curiosity was winning. Not that he was surprised; he had many times cursed his uncontrollable thirst for knowledge, since the time he had tormented Mother so much with his question that she had agreed to explain him how are children conceived. In hindsight, he had been far too young for that knowledge at the time. But so had Thor, and he would never forget the blonde's horrified expression upon hearing the reason his little brother looked so lost.

The sound of water stopped and another string of profanities reached his ears. For being so clever, Stark truly was an imbecile.

The mortal came in the living room limping slightly and stopped next to the couch. He was already dressed, but his hair was dripping and he looked upset. Loki raised an eyebrow, glancing at him from behind the StarkPad.

“I have been told that looking the ground you are putting your feet on usually helps you avoid accidents” he said.

“Fuck off” Loki's eyebrow raised even more. Didn't this mortal have any sort of respect for others, or at least self-preservation instincts? Loki remebered his jesting about 'performance issues' during his invasion and decided that no, he didn't.

“Had I not been forced to keep myself from harming you, I would be breaking your your teeth for speaking to me in that way”

“What, you don't curse in Asgard? 'Cause I think I heard things coming out of Thor's mouth that would put to shame most sailors” Stark replied “Or is it just you that is beyond swearing?”

“Oh believe me, I can have quite a mouth too if i so desire, but I think you haven't understood my point”

“Yeah, yeah, you're a god and shit and I'm just a puny little mortal who should speak to you with respect and blah, blah, blah. I'm not watching my language because of you, Reindeer Games” Stark stretched his arms, making a sound in the back of his throat. He looked tired even after almost an hour he'd been awake “Look, Smurfy-”

“Could you refrain from calling me that way?” Loki was starting to get irritated.

“Hey, you do look like a Smurf”

“I do not know what this Smurf is and I have the feeling you do not wish me to discover it”

“Fine, fine” Stark snorted “Oh great and powerful Loki, king of all the annoying little shits and prince of the fucking divas, may I dare to speak to thee?” Loki should feel offended by the exploit. He did, but he was mostly amused by Stark's sheer idiocy. Seriously, how had this mortal survived until now?

“Please, Anthony son of Stark, lord of the fools and of those who will die before their time, you may bring your urgent matters to me” Stark made an expression halfway between shocked and offended. He probably wasn't expecting Loki's words. He smirked internally. Confusing people was, after all, one of his greatest pleasures.

“So you do have some sense of humor after all” Stark said “Unbelievable, this is really the most unexpected news I could ever hear. I would have never imagined that you of all people would know how to _joke_ -”

“While I do have a sense of humor, I also have very few patience for idiots and a pronounced sadistic streak” Loki deadpanned.

“Whatever. I just wanted to ask you about our little deal” Loki sat straighter “Let me know when you are free to share your precious knowledge”

“I am free most of my time” Loki said. Part of him told him to be cautious, but it was a little part. The far bigger rest of himself was already quivering with delight at the idea of expanding his knowledge of any matter.

“Um... are you free now, or are you too involved by the...” Stark leaned forward to look at the StarkPad “...Middle Ages?”

“I believe you could say I am free” Loki sighed, putting down the StarkPad.

“Awesome. Come on, get up” Stark incited.

“I can speak also while I'm sitting”

“Which is an incredible ability, but if we're going to do science or at least something vaguely similar to science then we're going in my workshop” Stark said. The arc reactor could be seen glowing softly from under his t-shirt.

“Why?” Loki asked.

“'Cause I like to do science in my workshop, 'cause it helps me concentrate, and 'cause there's a lot more of cool stuff you can see down there”

“Are you trying to bribe me?”

“Maybe” Stark made a strange pleading expression.

“Fine. But I am warning you Stark, if I as much as see any of your friends I will find a way to make your life hell. Is it clear?” Loki hoped Stark wasn't clever enough to understand that his desire to avoid any of the Avengers didn't come merely from resentment towards them. The simple idea of any of them seeing him in his Jotun form and wearing Stark's clothes was enough to make his face burn with shame.

“Clear” Stark jolted to the elevator. Loki followed him with far less enthusiasm. Though after all this time spent in the penthouse leaving it for any other place was a relief “Jarvis, make sure no one is around to see Smurfy” Stark ignored the glare Loki shot him “And if anyone's coming down to the workshop, just tell them to wait, ok?”

“ _Yes, Mr Stark”_ the AI dutifully responded _“Doctor Banner is in his lab, should I ask him not to visit you?”_

“That'd be great” the elevator stopped. Loki followed Stark to a room on the right, after making sure no one would be able to see him “So this is my little party room” Stark said.

Loki wouldn't describe the workshop as little. It was as big as the living room of the penthouse, maybe more. All the place was full of tables, robots and strange tools. The tables were covered in devices Loki didn't understand the purpose of and mechanical pieces. In the center of the room there was an almost complete Iron Man armor, probably a project Stark was working on right now. Objects that could be seen as other parts of the armor could be seen all around the place. The room was in such a complete chaos that Loki couldn't help but like it.

“I suppose your cleaning robots don't come often in here” Loki said, his eyes already taking in every little detail.

“You're the God of Chaos, aren't you supposed to like disorder?” Stark asked “Jarvis, I'll need to take some notes of what we're doing”

“ _Of course, sir. What would you like me to save this project as?”_

“Uh... 'Smurfy stuff' will be fine”

“Stark” Loki growled. The mortal smiled at him, the perfect picture of feigned innocence. Loki wanted to punch that smirk off his face. He didn't like being mocked. He could handle some stupid jesting, but not prolonged mockery like this.

“So, since we're here to play twenty questions we might as well begin. I start, mmmh, does that scar like stuff on your face mean anything?” Loki froze. He considered lying for a moment, but then he decided that it wasn't the worst question the mortal could have asked.

“They do. Every Jotun's markings are different, as they symbolize their biological inheritance. My knowledge on the argument is limited, but by studying somebody's markings one could learn who is their father and their ancestors, or even if they have older siblings. The markings however do not carry much from one's mother side” he explained. This was relatively common knowledge after all.

“So on you basically have you genealogical tree written on your face?” Loki nodded “I suppose it makes cheating pretty hard in that place” Stark commented.

“Probably” Loki said. He had to admit he had never thought about it in these terms, but if a woman had a child with somebody who wasn't their legitimate husband there wasn't much she could do to deny her affair. Loki swallowed.

“Ok, your turn” Stark said, scribbling something on a StarkPad he had apparently pulled out of nowhere “Ask me something” Loki thought about it.

“What kind of material is your reactor made of?” he asked eventually. It was better to start with some relativly unobtrusive questions.

“At first I had used palladium, but then I upgraded it and used vibranium” Stark said.

“I'm afraid I have never heard of this vibranium you speak of” Loki was not surprised Stark had decided to change palladium with something else. He wasn't sure how much of the metal had been used in the reactor, but having palladium in one's chest for long periods of time was quite dangerous.

“It's basically the rarest metal in the world. There's some inside my chest, some is Cap's shield and the rest is in a small ass African country called Wakanda, I don't blame you for not knowing, even I didn't know it until some years ago”

“And how did you come in possess of such a rare material?” Loki asked.

“I could have bought it, but I've actually synthesized it” Loki raise an eyebrow.

“How did you do that?” he asked.

“Hey, it's my turn to ask questions” Stark protested, but launched himself in a detailed explanation on how to synthesize vibranium anyways, stopping only when Loki asked him clarifications on some Midgardian technology. The discussion quickly escalated in one about Stark's inventions and the functioning of various Midgardian devices, and while Loki was used to much more complex types of technology he had to admit he had rarely ever heard of objects like those Stark made.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [My tumblr](http://www.a-weird-rusted-android.tumblr.com/)


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again readers! A big thanks to all of you who are still sticking to this story; and an especially big one to [witch-of-sound](http://witch-of-sound.tumblr.com/) who betaed this chapter. Also, updates might get a bit delayed from now on because school started and I don't have that much free time anymore.

It wasn't that Tony had purposefully forgotten about the charity event Friday evening. But between work, an emergency that turned out to be a false alarm, repairing Bird Guy's wings and introducing Loki to Midgardian science, Tony kind of... forgot? Pepper looked quite pissed when, Thursday afternoon, she had to override Tony's security and enter his lab to remind him of it.

And wasn't the situation a lovely one. Pepper with her serious/angry face walking straight inside his workshop, only to stop dead in her tracks when she saw Loki reading on a chair while Tony was sitting on the ground, cursing loudly and glaring at a boot that for some reason didn't work like it should.

“Is this the wrong moment or something?” she asked, looking quite confused.

“Please, act as if I weren't here” Loki didn't even look up from his StarkPad. The Jotun was sitting with his back perfectly straight even after almost two hours he'd been in that position. Every once in a while, he'd absent-mindedly kick something that had come close to his feet. And given that he had ridiculously long legs and had decided to sit near to where Tony was working there was a small pile of little kicked objects around him.

“Jarvis, why didn't you tell me Pepper was coming? Hi Pep, by the way” Tony glared up at the ceiling. He knew Jarvis wasn't physically there, but it did feel quite good to glare at something. Like being in a room with Pepper wouldn't be awkward, no try being in a room with Pepper _and_ Loki because some AI didn't tell you she was coming by.

“ _I apologize sir, but Miss Potts asked me to not tell you anything”_

“I know you have the habit of locking down this place completely when you don't want to be disturbed, so I made sure you didn't know someone was going to disturb you. Hello to you too, Tony.” Pepper said, having taken Lokis' request to heart.

“Fine, fine, what is it, more stuff to sign?” Tony asked, getting up from the floor.

“I came here to remind you that tomorrow evening you have to come out of this Tower, be in public and you still haven't bought new suits” she said.

“I could order them tomorrow morning and they'd be here in time” Tony let out a groan. Seriously, being a billionaire had its perks.

“Look Tony, I don't want to make you feel like you have to buy those suits now, but you _do._ I want to see that you have ordered them, let's say, in two hours. Clear?” Pepper kept smiling all the time. Tony was feeling threatened. With the corner of his eyes, he thought he saw Loki smirking. He stared at Pepper for about ten seconds, trying to make it a glare match. The silence was interrupted buy the sound of something metallic hitting something soft. Tony groaned.

“Can you please not do that?” he asked, turning around to where Loki was sitting.

“Do what exactly?” Loki even had the courage to feign innocence.

“Kicking my stuff. Or destroying it 'cause you're bored, for that matter”

“I believe I haven't destroyed anything of yours in at least two days”

“Wait, you broke something two days ago? What did you-”

“Tony” Pepper's tone was final “Instead of bantering do something productive that involves your computer and suits”

“But Pep-”

“No buts, now” she ordered, before walking out of he workshop. Tony still didn't get how she could walk with those heels.

“You heard her Stark, go buy your suits” Loki said. The Jotun was having far too much fun for Tony's tastes. He really didn't know what had come to him when he had allowed Loki to stay inside his workshop has he worked, even when they weren't discussing each other's world. He wasn't even sure why _Loki_ would want it, other than for the sheer pleasure of annoying him. Actually, the surprise of hearing him ask if he could spend time inside the workshop was probably what had made Tony say yes in the first place.

“Stop having fun, and tell me what you broke two days ago.”

“I do not respond to you Stark.”

“If it wasn't for you she wouldn't be pissed at me, you know that?” _if it wasn't for you, we would still be together_ Tony thought. While he still hadn't accepted being tied forever to Loki and denied it at any given chance, the break-up with Pepper had almost stopped hurting by now. And sadness only left guilt and shame for having already gotten over her. And right now he needed to snap at somebody, and that somebody was going to be Loki.

“I'm aware. While you buy clothes for you, remember that I need some too” Tony had totally forgotten about that too. His shirts were almost the right size for the god, Loki's thinness compensating for the height difference, while the trousers were always too short. And it was always a strange sight; a blue-skinned alien prince wearing a baggy rock band t-shirt and gym pants.

“You didn't say the magic word” Tony mocked, taking the nearest StarkPad. He could complain as much as he wanted to, but he was going to do as Pepper said. And maybe, just _maybe_ , he would also buy something for Loki. If he behaved. Which he never did.

“What magic word are you referring to?”

“You know, something like 'please'?”

“Pleading is for making a request to somebody who does not have to fulfill your wishes” Jeez, this guy's arrogance. Only Tony was allowed to be a whiny brat with a superiority complex in this Tower. The Jotun was truly getting on his nerves.

He went on the Armani store and bought three new suits. He really couldn't see what all of Pepper's fuss was about, he was Mr Stark after all and even when Mr Stark ordered clothes on-line they were delivered within three and eight hours. He wasn't admittedly entirely sure how, but he wasn't going to complain.

He tapped his foot on the ground, wishing there would be some music. It was Rule #4 in the little house rules Tony and Loki had agreed upon (after a debate that lasted about three hours) when it came to the workshop. Rule #1 was that Loki wasn't allowed to tell anyone about Tony's stuff, Rule #2 was that Loki couldn't break anything in the workshop, Rule #3 was that Loki couldn't steal or hide or take anything that he found in the workshop out of the workshop, unless Tony told him he could. In exchange, Rule #4 was that Tony wasn't allowed to have music at high volumes, and Rule #5 was that Tony couldn't bring anyone in the workshop while Loki was in there too (apparently, Pepper was an exception. For some reason Loki seemed to like Pepper). In the end, between no music and music at low volumes Tony had picked no music at all.

“Are you done?” Loki asked. Tony rolled his eyes.

“You know it's not like you're in a hurry” Tony huffed, passing him the StarkPad.

“The sooner I will own some clothes the safer your things will be” Loki said.

“I thought we had agreed on you not breaking my stuff”

“We have agreed on that as long as it is something concerning your work or more generally inside this room. I assume I can choose anything I wish?” Loki said, looking intently at the StarkPad.

“Yeah, shopping online is one of the coolest things ever. The website should have enough clothes for you to find something you like. Think you can understand everything by yourself?” Tony teased.

“I believe I do.”

“Fine, just tell me when you're done.” Tony launched himself back on the floor and picked up his boot where he'd left it. There had to be a reason if it didn't work right. There always was a reason if things didn't work right. Well, usually there was, as long as you weren't combining electric things and Thor. Tony will never understand why everything that worked with electricity started having problems the moment they were handed to Thor. It wasn't even that the guy didn't know how to make them work, because both Tony and Bruce - and presumably Jane - had spent hours perched over his shoulders checking his every move. Though, despite the Aesir not doing anything wrong 8 times out of 10, what he had in his hands broke or didn't work right.

Tony hummed under his breath while trying to find the problem. Everything looked to be connected right, there were no faults in the outer revetment of the boot and all the laws of physics were being respected. It should be working. He opted for disassembling parts of the boot. Maybe the problem was a connection that was covered from something else.

“I believe I'm done” Loki's voice startled Tony. One would think he would remember about the giant Smurf in the room, but he didn't. When he wasn't talking to him, and the Jotun didn't kick his things across the floor, Tony kept forgetting about the other's presence. He attributed it to being completely engrossed in his work and used to not having anyone nearby while he worked.

“Ok.” Tony said, taking the StarkPad from Loki's hands and checking it. A part of him was pissed about having to spend all this money for Loki, but the Jotun had to buy himself a complete new wardrobe after all. It wasn't like money was this big of a problem for Tony. Though maybe he should have changed for a regular website instead of leaving on the Armani one. He clicked 'BUY' and put the device back on a workbench “The things will arrive tomorrow I think.”

“Very good. Jarvis, is there anybody in the elevator or on this floor?”

“ _The elevator is free and the floor is empty, Mr Laufeyson.”_ Loki grimaced, like he always did when Jarvis called him that.

“I will go back to the penthouse then” he said, strolling out of the workshop like he owned the place. Tony had to admire Loki's natural confidence, as well as his ass. Hey, the fact that Tony wasn't really fond of the guy didn't mean he couldn't recognize his perks. He was man enough to admit that the company may have been terrible but the visual was lovely. “And Stark? You may want to heat that boot slightly”

Tony looked down at the boot in his hand, moved a couple wires and there it was, ice. He wondered how he hadn't noticed earlier. The blue bastard must've touched it while Tony wasn't looking. He cursed both Loki and himself.

“You _bastard_ , stop messing with my stuff!” he yelled, but Loki was already gone “Jarvis, put on some music” he put down the boot and resigned himself to wait while finally, _finally_ 'Shoot to Thrill' was blasted in the workshop.

 

***

 

Loki always kept his promises. He didn't break Stark's precious boot, he just put some ice over it. While his skin still disgusted him, he had forced himself to learn how to control his Jotun powers. Mostly so that he wouldn't freeze something without meaning to, again, but he had to admit they were quite useful.

Watching Stark working was... entertaining. Not that the mortal would ever know it, of course. But seeing him scramble around and curse and talk to himself was strangely amusing. It was like watching some kind of overexcited pet. A particularly intelligent one. Loki had admittedly never saw a pet clever enough to understand half of the words Stark was saying. Most Asgardians wouldn't either, probably.

Lady Potts arrival had been providential. Loki had been about to throw cold water at Stark while the mortal slept again if he didn't remember about Loki's clothes soon. He had already asked politely two times, and far less politely a third, fourth, and probably ninth time. But apparently Stark was above listening to what Loki was saying if it didn't involve Asgardian technology. To his relief, Stark had decided that for the moment listening to the functioning of foreign devices was more enjoyable than a lesson in Jotun physiology. Apart from some tests on Loki's ice, the majority of their conversations had been about the two Realms differences.

The knowledge that soon he could stop wearing Stark's clothes had put Loki in a good mood. The fact that the Lady Potts had seen him with those didn't embarrass him, not too much at least. After all, they had already met once before, and for some reason Loki just couldn't find it in himself to be embarrassed or humiliated because she had seen him like this. She was strange. Of course, had it been any of the Avengers Loki would have froze their eyes. At least now he wouldn't have to avoid them so carefully. Maybe he would even find ways to annoy them. He grinned.

 

***

 

“You actually did as I said” Pepper said, or rather shouted. Tony jumped.

“How did you sneak up on me?” he asked. Jarvis turned down off the stereo implant.

“Your music could be heard from two floors down. To go back to the news, I only had to ask you once and you bought your suits, together with... other clothes that aren't even your size” Tony shrugged.

“I ordered my suits, Loki was there so he picked my StarkPad and bought some clothes for himself too” he explained.

“Yes, I figured yours were a little too small for him” she swallowed “Why was he here, by the way?”

“He kept asking if he could stay here and in the end I agreed” Pepper nodded.

“It's just... Isn't it a bit weird to be having a banter with that guy?” she asked.

“Yeah, I guess. I was teasing him actually, and then it turns out he knows how to use sarcasm” Tony half-lied. Truth was, arguing and having sass matches with Loki was only his new revised way of denial he had perfected during the last week. Treat him like you'd treat anyone else, act like he's just any other alien with a superiority complex who currently lives in your home and sleeps in your bed, and you won't have to think about him in any other totally not-cool way. It was working real well, if you asked him. He had found he could ignore the freezing thing around his wrist by bantering with the main reason he had that freezing thing around his wrist rather than ignoring him.

“Ok. So the event is tomorrow and night starts at exactly 8.30pm, try not to be too late for it. Happy knows were he has to drive you and he says it'll take about half an hour from here to get there, just so you know.”

“'k” Tony went back to his work, repressing all guilty feelings about not having a nice, long discussion with Pep but rather trying to escape the situation.

“Can I expect you to be there earlier than 10?” Tony flashed her a smile.

“Oh, come on, you know me” he said.

“I'll take that as a no” she smiled “See you tomorrow then” she walked out of the workshop. Tony followed her with his eyes. _Get back to work Stark, concentrate so all the bad feelings will go away._

 

***

 

“ _Sir, your delivery is here.”_ Jarvis said while Tony was having breakfast in the communal kitchen. Or rather, trying to eat while Clint threw pieces of food at him from over the fridge.

“Make a robot take it and send it to the penthouse.” Tony really didn't want a poor delivery guy to be traumatized by the blue god in the room. Or also to tell somebody that the blue god was in the room in the first place “You, don't think this is over.” he said, pointing a finger at Clint. The archer laughed.

“You can't beat me at throwing food, you know that.” Clint made his point by making a cereal hit Tony exactly on his nose.

“Revenge will be sweet,” he muttered, taking the elevator to his floor. He stepped out and almost fell, his bare feet slipping over a thin layer of blue otherwordly ice. He jumped and went back in the elevator “Reindeer Games, what the fuck?”

“I don't have to explain my reasons to you” came the reply from the couch. The floor of the whole penthouse seemed to be covered in ice.

“Is it another way to tell me you're bored out of your mind and want to have new toys or something?” Tony asked, trying to walk without slipping. Damn, it was cold. Hella cold. He got to the nearest armchair and sat on it. Fuck.

“I am content with what I have” Loki was reading something on his StarkPad, which was his default action these days.

“You're fucking nuts, you know?”

“Actually, I don't see why or how I should be having intercourse with small hard fruits and I'm certainly not doing it now” Tony almost choked on his own saliva.

“That's... That's the most stupid pun I've ever heard in my whole fucking life, just why would you even think about making it?” he asked, with an edge of madness in his voice. Loki looked smug. Not only he wasn't ashamed for his joke and wishing for the ground to swallow him but he was actually _pleased_ with his pun. God, this guy was fucking shameless.

“Is there anything you wished to tell me in particular?” Loki asked.

“Your clothes have arrived, I guess. If you could defrost this place I may even forget about that unholy sentence that came out of your mouth just a second ago.” Tony basically slid into the bedroom to fetch himself some shoes, because if feet had mouths then they'd be screaming in protest.

“Your machine is here,” Loki said.

“Yeah, yeah.” Tony put on a pair of sneakers and somehow managed to get back to the living room, where a quite confused robot was waiting right outside the elevator with a lot of bags. “So this is mine,” Tony took the bag from the robot's mechanical arms, “and the rest is yours princess.” Loki stood and grabbed the rest of the bags before going towards the bedroom - there were seven of them, and he managed to take them all and walk away without even _sliding_ on the frosted floor, how was that even possible?

“I hope you don't mind if I put my things in your wardrobe,” he said.

“It's not like there's not enough space” Tony said, following him. That thing was fucking huge and basically half of it was empty. He hung his suits up while Loki started looking inside his bags “I'm going, see ya this evening” Loki hummed.

Only in the elevator it dawned Tony that, for like a second, Loki had actually been polite to him.

 

***

 

When Tony went back to the penthouse that evening to take a quick shower and put on one of his new suits the ice was still on the ground.

“So you didn't make this stuff disappear?” Tony asked, peeking inside the spare bedroom. Loki was pacing, already in his new clothes - a pair of dark jeans and a black shirt that hugged his body in an almost sinful way. Tony totally didn't feel something down there.

“Evidently” the Jotun said “Are you enjoying the view?” Loki raised an eyebrow as Tony's eyes ran over his figure.

“As a matter of fact, I am” Tony was never one to hide his appreciation of something. There was a list of villains out there that had been taken aback by his flirting right in the middle of a battle. He left the room, grinning at Loki's mildly surprised look. He probably wasn't expecting the remark.

Half an hour later, he was inside the car, Happy driving to the event's location.

“Do you know what is this all about?” Tony asked, adjusting the collar of his shirt in the rear mirror.

“No, I don't. But the press will be throwing fits, sir” the driver said.

“Why?”

“Well, you've barely come out of the Tower for the past month. They'll be curious” Tony sighed. Fucking paparazzi.

“I suppose they will” he checked the clock. 8.57. Pepper couldn't complain this time.

The exact moment Tony stepped out of the car, a dozen of journalists and photographers ran to him. He flashed them smiles and made a couple jokes while he walked past them. They asked him every sort of question, which he pointedly ignored.

“See? I'm here early” Tony said when he saw Pepper, who excused herself from a couple men she was having a conversation with.

“If by early you mean an hour late then yes, you are early” she said.

“Oh come on, I can already sense this thing will be boring” Tony looked around for where the booze was placed.

“On the contrary, there are quite a lot of interesting people to talk with”

“Yeah, like those two who were more interested in meeting your boobs rather than you, and before you say that I'm doing a jealous ex-boyfriend impression or something like that, I'm just trying to look out for you. Besides one of them was like what, seventy?” Tony said. Before Pepper could reply, somebody screamed and a wall literally exploded.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [My tumblr](http://a-weird-rusted-android.com/)


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're actually moving forward with the story guys, I know it might not seem so, but it is. It's an important chapter. More or less. Like, it's the chapter that gives the premise to a more important chapter. Whatever. Thanks again to my awesome beta, and to everyone who left kudos, subscribed etc.

Loki had started feeling the beginning of one of those trances about ten minutes after Stark had gone out. It was a surprise, since he hadn't fallen into one for at least a week. He tried to force the feeling of emptiness in his head out, but to no avail. He grabbed his head with his hands. It had been going so well, he couldn't have another trance now. Every time he fell into trance it only became worse, and more difficult to exit. He could even feel something barely there, at the edge of his consciousness.  _Don't stop thinking, don't stop thinking, don't... don't stop..._

A warm sensation shocked him out of the emptiness. He took a deep breath. A burning line circled his right wrist. He groaned. The unexpected sensation had surprised him enough to break the trance. Rationally, he new the chain couldn't be that hot, but as a Jotun his sensibility to warm had increased. He sat up. He hadn't even realized he had been lying on the bed.

So Stark was in trouble. 

Loki wasn't surprised at all. With the lifestyle the mortal had it was strange the chain hadn't warmed until now. The rest of the Avengers would probably go help him in a matter of minutes. At least Loki had almost fallen into trance while Stark was out, showing any other kind of weakness in front of him repelle-

Wait. Stark was out. Physically away from the Tower. So Loki's theory was confirmed.

“Jarvis, what are the Avengers doing?” he asked.

“ _Agent Romanoff, Mr Odinson and Doctor Banner are helping Agent Barton with a certain issue. Captain Rogers and Mr Wilson are currently away. May I ask you the reason of your curiosity, sir?”_ Loki pondered his options. If the Avengers didn't know that Stark was in distress it meant that the danger had not yet manifested itself. 

The most logical reason was that somebody was planning on attacking him. He was confident Stark had the capability of coming out of this attack in relative security, so alerting the Avengers now would be redundant. On the other hand, now that his theory was confirmed, he needed to talk with the mortal as soon as possible. Waiting for him to recovery from serious injuries would be a waste of time. 

A thought crossed Loki's mind. “What exactly is this 'issue' Barton is having?” he asked.

“ _He has been feeling... uncomfortable, so to speak, for the past five minutes, but he seems to be recovering now. Though I discourage you from trying to contact him, for he is quite... distressed,”_ of course. Jarvis seemed to know exactly what Loki was thinking.

“Thank you, Jarvis, you have been quite helpful” Loki walked out of the room, his naked feet letting him move with ease on the ice (a little... experiment of his, so to speak). He called the elevator and pushed the button the would take him to the communal floor.

“YOU FUCKER!” Loki's hand snapped up to catch the knife Barton threw at him the moment he saw him.

“Calm down, Agent Barton,” he said. Annoying being. It was a pity he couldn't just kill him.

“Brother, I believe maybe you should go back-”

“Shut up Thor,” Loki glared at the blonde Aesir. “I am not here to make small talk with you,” four pair of eyes were fixed on him. Barton was being held back by Romanoff and Thor, it seemed that be about to leap towards Loki. Banner was standing a little aside, apparently - fortunately - not too bothered by the exchange, and if Loki was reading him correctly, also quite interested in his Jotun form. Midgards men of science were strange.

“Then what are you here for?” Romanoff asked. Her face was completely devoid of emotions. Loki had to admit that he quite admired her lying skills, and wanted to stab her for the time she had managed to deceive him.

“To inform you that your friend Stark is probably about to be attacked by one of your enemies” Romanoff raised an eyebrow.

“How would you-”

“Thor, have you not explained to your companions how the matrimonial chains work?” Loki asked, rubbing at the cloth he kept tied over his right wrist. “For your information, Agent Romanoff, the bands temperature increases every time the one you are tied to is in danger, and mine is quite warm right now,” he said, struggling to maintain a relaxed tone. Trying to not show any of the awful feelings he got by even thinking about the chain.

“Why would you tell us that Tony is in danger? I didn't think you cared,” Banner said.

“I do not. But I have my reasons, which I would rather not discuss.”

“I have a more pressing question, like what do you think you're doing?” Barton growled. Thor tightened his grip around his shoulder.

“I am doing nothing,” Loki responded. “Now, if you believe me you are free to do what you want about Stark's problems. If you do not, then you are not complete idiots after all. Good evening.” With this, Loki turned and went back to the penthouse. No need to waste more time with those people.

“ _Sir, the Avengers are going out now.”_ Jarvis said ten minutes later. Then, soon after, _“Doctor Doom has just appeared at Mr Stark's location, sir.”_ Loki let a small grin appear on his face. It was always a nice feeling, to be proved right.

 

***

 

It really said things about Tony's lifestyle that he didn't even have to think about the best way to shield himself from the explosion, he just went in autopilot. People all around him were screaming. He turned around.

Tony mentally cursed everything he could think of when he saw a group of doombots coming from where a wall had been standing until thirty seconds before. Doom himself was trailing right behind them. Tony groaned. Luckily he always wore the devices to call his suit from distance. Great, he could... Shit. He'd been upgrading it lately. So the only things he could call were his gauntlets. Better than nothing.

“Doom. Why is it that every time we meet you are blowing stuff up?” Tony asked, trying to buy himself some time. His eyes darted around - the place was a mess, but he didn't see anyone too badly injured. Luckily no one had been standing too close to that part of the room.

“I didn't believe I'd see you here, Stark, but I have to say your presence is a nice surprise.” came the reply. Judging by the small number of bots Doom had taken, he probably wasn't expecting anyone but rich people and dignitaries.

“If you really want to talk to me you could use a phone, you know? Now why don't you let all these people go and we have our superhero/supervillain chat alone?” The bots had moved to the various accesses of the building, effectively preventing anyone from going in or out.

“It wasn't for you that I came for. Now, let me kill a couple people.” Doom indicated a man and a woman, probably delegates from some weird country (what the hell had the party been about in the first place?) “And then it'll be your turn.” Tony scoffed.

“Come on Victor, we both know you won't accomplish anything anyway.” That was not the right thing to say. Doom walked to Tony and punched him in the stomach before the hero could react. Tony wheezed and crunched over himself. Fucking psycho with his fucking metal armor. That hurt like a bitch. His knees gave away. There was a loud noise from outside the building.

“Be a good boy Stark, wait your turn,” Doom hissed, suddenly in a hurry, leaving Tony to try and remember how to breathe. Tony watched as the madman approached the two designated victims. Just then he heard screams from outside and another wall was crushed. This time, by a pissed off green rage monster.

“Hey big guy,” Tony wheezed, as Hulk roared. The pain in his stomach seemed to have become one with the pain of the reactor and Tony overall felt like his whole upper body was in flames.

Doom was knocked off by Mjolnir, hitting him square in in the chest. Ouch. Tony had never loved Thor more than he did now. Nat and Clint's voices were telling the civilians to get away as quickly as they could. The two assassins couldn't really do much against doombots, so in these cases they were usually put on normal people duty. Tony moved away from the main fight, hiding behind a pile of debris to wait for his suit to arrive.

A doombot somewhere on Tony's right shot a blast. He avoided it, even though it sent him flying down to the ground. While he was trying to stand again, something hit his right arm. There was an horrible sound and a jolt of pain radiated from the wounded limb. Tony shouted and clutched the arm in pain. Just then he heard the sound of his gauntlets finally getting there. He stood wobbly and let them surround his hands. He shouted again when his right arm was forced to change position. Definitely broken.

Tony took a look around, attempting to hide behind the destroyed walls. Nat and Clint were still leading people away, Hulk was smashing a couple doombots together and Thor was trying to reduce Doom's face to a meat/metal ball, and doing a damn good job at that. Tony wasn't sure how many more Asgardian punches that face plate could take. Doom was desperately trying to break free from Thor's grip, but the god was taking all of Doom's magical hits with little more than a grimace.

A bot moved to Tony's left and he blasted it. He couldn't use his right gauntlet because of technical problems, but he hoped that, in this situation, the left one was enough. Another bot launched itself at him and he blasted it into a metallic mess. He should have summoned his whole suit but hey, too late for that it seemed.

Tony rolled behind a big table and glanced around. A bot was coming his way and was preparing to shoot him. Tony moved quickly and blasted it. It took a couple tries, but he managed to destroy it. He did the same thing to another bot, clutching his right arm to his chest.

The fight was over quickly. There had only been about ten bots, and one of Hulk's favorite past times was smashing the doombots. No, really, apparently the big guy had preferences when it came to destroying stuff and for some reason doombots gave him some kind of deep satisfaction. Tony had taken care of the others. Judging by how Doom was leaning against Thor, he was probably unconscious.

“So sweet of you to give me a hand guys, I'm touched,” Tony said, walking to Thor.

“Tony Hulk friend,” Hulk growled. Tony flashed him a smile. The giant was getting more social every time Bruce hulked out. His vocabulary was quite limited, and his speaking pattern quite confused, but he was overall a nice guy. Clint had given Tony a look the first time he'd said so, but he was probably just jealous that Hulk had started calling Tony by his name and not him.

“Yep. Now what do we do with him?” Tony asked, pointing the limp form in Thor's arms. He looked odd.

“This is not the true Doctor Doom,” Thor announced. Once he took a closer look, Tony noticed wires coming out from under various holes in the face.

“He fooled us,” Natasha said. “He sent some programmed bots to do his dirty work. Clever. What did he want?”

“He said he wanted to kill a couple guys at the party, didn't know I was coming by. He probably thought he could get away before we arrived. By the way, you're getting quicker guys.” Tony commented, wincing when he moved his right arm a bit too much. The Hulk left, presumably to change back into Bruce. (Bruce out? Hulk in? What was that transformation supposed to be called?)

“Yeah, it's not really strange that it wasn't him. This isn't unusual behavior. I mean, last time he brought at least thirty or forty of these fuckers.” Clint gestured vaguely to the piles of metal lying around.

“He's probably running out of bots. Between us and the Fantastic Four he loses a lot of them every month. I'm not an expert, but it has to take a while to make them. Besides, they suck in close space combat,” Tony commented.

“Yeah, they do,” sirens soon signaled the arrive of the police. Tony let Thor and Nat do the whole talking to the public thing. She was really good at it, and Thor was too adorable for people to do anything but make heart eyes and aww at him while he spoke. Tony limited himself to smiling and waving his goodbye to Pepper, before heading for the Quinjet. Clint was already there, and soon after a shirtless Bruce walked in, holding his pants up with one hand.

“Nat and Thor said they'll go back to the Tower by themselves,” Clint informed them, taking off “How is it that you're not showing off your cool gloves to the world?”

“Because right now I'm feeling like shit. I think I may have broken my arm,” Tony said.

“I'll take a look at that back at the Tower,” Bruce said, rubbing his eyes. “Any other wounds I should know about?”

“The artificial bastard punched me in the guts and it still kind of hurts, other than that no, I don't think so,” Tony answered.

“Ok” Bruce said, before leaning back in his seat and closing his eyes “You'll fill me on what happened exactly later”

“I say Doom is becoming sloppy,” Clint said. “That programmed bot was useless. I mean, for an assassination attempt those bots weren't enough to let him get away with it. Once it saw an Avenger was there he should've turned around and run.”

“Yeah, well, I was without my suit and it probably thought it had enough time to kill them and me before you arrived. One problem less. By the way, I thought it'd take you longer to get there.” Tony moved around a bit in his seat, trying to find a position that didn't make him cry out in pain. In the end, he just got up and let his arm hang by his side. This was what, the fourth time he broke an arm since he became Iron Man? How was it that he had motherfucking armor and he kept getting hurt, and people like Clint and Nat never ended up with much more than some bruises?

“You have to thank Loki for that. He told us you were in trouble before Doom attacked, said something about a chain,” Bruce said.

“Loki? Loki alerted you?” Bruce nodded “...Are you sure it wasn't some kind of shape shifter that somehow crawled inside the Tower?”

“Pretty sure it was him”

“Why the hell would Loki tell you I was in trouble?” Tony asked. Unless Loki took the 'I show my love by being a complete and utter jerk' thing to a whole new level, the Jotun really would let Tony die an atrocious death and laugh all the way through it. It was hard to picture him being useful, let alone helping him.

“He said he had 'reasons'” Clint spat “By the way, tell him to stay the fuck away from my head or I won't be responsible for my actions”

“He doesn't listen to me,” Tony commented. “What the hell was he doing?” Clint swallowed, taking the jet up to land on the Tower.

“I have no idea what the hell was he doing, I only know my head felt empty. Like... Like when I was under his influence. It wasn't really such a strong sensation, more like some kind of echo, but...” Clint trailed off. Tony bit his lip. Crap.

“I'll talk with Smurfy but I can't promise anything.” The platform outside the penthouse opened, and the Quinjet landed in the garage underneath. Tony sighed. It had taken him a while to figure out the best way of dealing with the jet, and in the end half of the communal floor had been made into a garage. “I'll go put on some clothes, meet me in the infirmary,” Bruce said.

“Ok,” Tony let the robots take off his gauntlets, grimacing and snapping at them when they moved to his right arm. Clint stood there the whole time, telling him to stop being a baby. Tony wanted to punch him, it fucking _hurt_ to break any of your bones but apparently Clint wasn't getting it.

Outside the garage, Tony almost crashed against someone - someone tall, thin and annoying. He huffed. “What's with the sudden concern for me Rudolph? Feeling lonely already?” Tony asked. Clint snickered.

“I require a word with you Stark,” Loki spat out.

“Yeah I have to tell you a couple things too, can we do this after Bruce takes a look at me?” Tony tried to sidestep Loki, but the Jotun moved to stop.

“It is urgent”

“Whatever it is I have more urgent stuff right now, I think you can wait for a while?" Tony snapped. Loki glared down at him - height difference was a fucking bitch - before letting him pass “Thank you” he said, walking past the Jotun, holding his arm to his body, Clint following him closely. 

“I have to say, watching you and him arguing is a mixture between funny and creepy”

“Why creepy?”

“Uh, 'cause he's basically the god of dickery, 'cause he tried to kill all of us at least once, 'cause he's overall a fucking creep and you talk to him like you do with everyone else around here.” Tony supposed Clint had a point. Not that he'd ever admit it. “I can hear you, Barton.” Both Tony and Clint jumped when they heard a deep voice behind them.

“Why are you following us?” Tony asked. Seriously, what was up with Loki today?

“To ensure that I will talk to you the moment you are done with your... urgent matters.” Tony and Clint exchanged a worried glance. “Whatever” Tony said.

“I'll go do... stuff,” Clint said, muscles tense. He walked away from them, though Tony noticed he was walking weird, like he didn't want to turn his back completely to Loki. Not that he could be blamed.

Bruce made no comment about Loki standing in the infirmary, he merely asked him politely if the Jotun could give them some privacy while he examined Tony. To the inventor's great surprise, Loki actually did as asked and walked away from them. Bruce dragged Tony to the X-Ray machine. None of the Avengers particularly trusted other people, so they went to Bruce basically for everything short of surgery. While medicine wasn't Bruce's original field, by now he was a pro in stitching small wounds and setting broken bones.

“You were right, it's broken,” Bruce said, looking at the radiography. “I'll put a cast on you. I also need to take a look at your stomach, you said the bot punched you.”

“Yep. But it's fine, really, I almost don't feel the pain anymore.” Tony hopped on a bed while Bruce took out the necessary items to put the cast on Tony's arm. Tony was already berating himself in his mind for telling Bruce about the punch to his stomach. He _hated_ anything medical-related. The prospective of having to wear a cast was already making him want to cut the arm off instead. 

He wouldn't be able to work properly for at least four, five weeks now. Only he couldn't just act like everything was fine; he had tried hiding a broken bone from Bruce once and apart from the general pain of it, Natasha had found out and practically dragged him to the infirmary.

“Don't start whining now.” Bruce started wrapping a layer of cotton gauze around Tony's arm. “It'd be better if you could take the chain off, but I suppose that's not an option,” Tony shrugged - or at least, tried to. “Can't you just move it out of the way?”

“I'm trying to,” finding a way to put the cast on without the chain interfering was harder than he first thought. Finally, Bruce managed to cast Tony's arm and leave the chain out, moving it as far as it would go towards Tony's hand. He hadn't needed tie him to the bed to make him stop squirming in pain. Bruce then made Tony lie down, ignoring all of his protests, and proceeded to examine his stomach. “So? Everything is fine?” 

Bruce sighed. “Yes. You're lucky, a punch like that could have caused some pretty serious damage. You'll just have some bruises.” Tony was  _finally_ free to go. He wanted to get some rest, but Loki was still standing by the door.

“Ok, ok, what did you want to tell me?” Tony sighed.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [My tumblr](http://www.a-weird-rusted-android.tumblr.com/)


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello readers! So we finally got to the chapter I wanted us to get to. I hope this'll explain some of what is actually happening around there. I've been experiencing a major case of writer block lately, but fear not I will manage to overcome it

Loki glanced at Bruce from over Tony's shoulder and Tony huffed.

“You know, Bruce won't run around spilling all of your little dirty secrets, just spit it out,” Loki raised an eyebrow, the Eyebrow of Divine Judgment, as Tony was starting to call it. “It was meant figuratively.”

“Very well. I need to know what material is your reactor made of exactly” Loki said.

“What?”

“You heard me” looked like Elsa was in a pissed mood.

“I told you already, it's vibranium”

“I doubt it is only vibranium”

“The core is vibranium, the rest is mostly meant for containment, why?” Tony glared at Loki when he didn't answer “Hello, are you listening?”

“Then I need to take a look at the energy signature” Tony blinked. Ok, this was new.

“Is there any particular reason you suddenly are so interested in my reactor's working process?” Loki glared back.

“I have a theory, but it needs a final confirmation and your reactor is the key. If I'm right, you will not like what I think is happening” he growled. Tony turned to meet Bruce's gaze, perplexed. The doctor shrugged.

“Fine. Come to the workshop” Tony said. He was tired, he wanted to sleep and his arm hurt and instead of going the fuck to sleep he had to put up with Loki. They left the infirmary and went in the elevator “By the way, Clint asks for you to stop fucking with his head and I-”

“That was not me” Loki interrupted.

“Come again?”

“What Barton was feeling was not my doing, but it has to do with this theory of mine” Tony nodded.

"All right then. I expect an explanation.” They stepped inside the workshop. “Jarvis, put up the info about the energy signature of the arc reactor.” A series of holograms showing the readings and data collected from various arc reactors appeared. Loki began to carefully observe the graphs, occasionally manipulating the images to concentrate on certain reactors. It was unnerving how quickly he had caught on with technology, even when Tony himself had been the one to explain him most of it.

“Do you have any data about the Tesseract?” Loki asked.

“Yeah, it's mostly from my father's old works on it, but I do,” Tony said, frowning.

“Why?”

“I need it.”

“Whatever man. Jarvis, you heard the Smurf.” Loki didn't call him out on the nickname, which was quite strange. The other holograms, very few compared to the reactor's ones, appeared in a different color. Loki took the readings from Tony's current reactor and dragged them near the Tesseract's.

“The energy signatures are quite similar” Loki observed.

“Yes, I have no idea what the Tesseract is made of or how the hell it works, but I figured that out for myself.” Tony tried to cross his arms, only to be painfully reminded of state of his right arm. “What's going on here? Come on Smurf, just tell me what the hell is it that goes on in that blue head of yours, I'm getting impatient here,” he snapped. Loki closed the holograms.

“Do you know what the Infinity Gems are?” he asked.

“No clue.”

“They are six objects of unimaginable power, each one of them allows the user specific abilities. The Tesseract, for example, is also known as the Space Gem, because it can create portals to any other place in the universe. The stone on the scepter I used during my failed invasion is another one of the Gems, the Mind Gem more specifically.”

“Ok, so the Mind Gem allows you to fuck with people's heads, right?” Tony said.

“In a certain sense, yes. The energy of one Gem can, to a certain point, alter the power of another. Your reactor has a signature similar to the Tesseract's, and that is the reason I could not control you.”

“Yeah, good times,” Tony sighed. “Not that this isn't fascinating, but what exactly does this have to do with...something related to us?” Loki seemed hesitant.

“I believe that someone is influencing the Gem in some way.”

“Influencing?”

“Yes, controlling, in a sense,” Loki said.

“Like the thing that fucks with peoples heads is being fucked with, is this what you're saying?” Tony was a bit confused right now. Just a bit.

“I suppose that is one way to put it. My personal theory is that somebody has found the Gem and knows something about its powers, but doesn't have the knowledge or the skills to use it correctly.” Loki explained, sitting on a chair.

“So you think someone has this shining stone and wants to use it but they can't?” Loki nodded “And exactly how do you know this?”

“I have... felt the stone at the edges of my mind. I have tried reaching to it, but I didn't feel what I expected. If someone is in complete control of the Gem, one might feel their mind through it, but I felt nothing. So whomever has hold of the Gem is probably trying to understand it, and occasionally releases its power without meaning to.” Tony snorted. This was borderline ridiculous. What Loki was saying basically screamed 'lie' to Tony. Well, most things coming out of the God of _Lies_ screamed 'lie' but this one in particular? It didn't even make much sense to Tony. But on the other hand, why would Loki make up a story like this?

“Let's say for a moment that you are telling the truth, why would the Gem search for you or go to your head?”

“The user of the Gem is releasing power without directing it, so the Gem tries to do the best thing it can, which is, as you put it, 'fucking with people's heads.'" Tony repressed a giggle when he heard Loki swear. “The Gem tries to bring people under its control, but since it is not being used properly, it may only reach those with the weakest willpower. So it searches for those it has already touched. Mine, for example. In Asgard the magic surrounding the dungeons kept any kind of influence out, but now that I am on Midgard the Gem has already tried to take me under its control many times.”

“You've been about to be put under mind control for a _month_ and you don't say shit?” Tony asked, disbelieving. “Also, why didn't Clint feel anything weird until now when he said you tried to do something weird with his mind?”

“Barton's mind wasn't directly connected to the Gem, but rather mine served as a bridge between them. Earlier this evening I was almost subdued, and that is why he felt something similar to mind control.” This was getting weirder by the second.

“So, you are telling me this now rather than earlier because the Gem got to you now rather than earlier?” Tony asked. There was something he didn't quite get about this story, but he couldn't put his finger on what exactly.

“Yes. Before you ask, I don't know who is influencing the Gem or what do they want to do with it, nor do I know if they have someone else already under the Gem's control.” The Jotun bit his lower lip, and Tony understood what was it that made him think Loki was being honest. No cunning remarks, no superiority complex, he was just flat out telling Tony everything, like he was trying to keep himself distant from his words. This whole explanation, it lacked life. It was almost like those times when _Tony_ was forced to speak honestly about matters that he'd rather not think too much about. It was unsettling. Also because he wasn't sure why would Loki would try to not think about this stone of mind-fuckery.

“Do you at least know where the Gem is?” Loki shook his head.

“No. The last time I saw it was right after you captured me. I am not even sure whether Thor has brought it back to Asgard or left it on Midgard. I would assume that it is on this Realm, but I know it can work from... considerable distances, so perhaps whomever is using it is on another of the Nine Realms, or even from other planets.”

“So tell me,” he said. “Exactly how do you plan on keeping that out of your head?”

“What makes you think I am planning something?” Loki retorted.

“Please. You're not the kind guy to tell this whole depressing story and not know what to do about it.”

“I have seen that if I am using my powers the effects of the Gem can be slightly dulled, but not completely destroyed. Being relatively close to your reactor is the only way I know of keeping the Gem's influence out; the energy it emits is very faint but it is enough to counteract the pull from the Gem.”

“So what, we stay near each other until you figure out how to keep this thing out more permanently?” Tony whined.

“Yes,” great, like Tony didn't have to suffer this guy often enough. He was half tempted to refuse, but it wasn't like he and Loki weren't already near each other all the time. Tony doubted that they could be living even closer than now.

“Let's make a scientific experiment. You stick to me for, let's see, three weeks. If Clint doesn't complain about strange episodes (and no, you telling me you don't have a problem isn't something I would believe easily) I may be more inclined to believe you. I will do some basic research about your staff, but nothing big, we'll keep it between the two of us for now. Only after the three weeks or when I have some proof that you may be actually telling the truth, I will speak with my team and see if they know anything. Clear?” Loki rolled his eyes.

“Your trust issues are incredible.”

“Sorry, how many reasons did you give me during the time we've known each other to trust you blindly?”

“I simply stated that they are incredible, not unjustified,” Loki retorted, raising his eyebrow. Tony rolled his eyes.

“You fucker. Very well, I'm going to bed, I'm tired, I've got a broken bone and I'm so not in the right state of mind to argue with you.” Tony turned to walk away, but then remembered something. “About that ice on the floor.”

“It is still mostly there, yes.” Tony let out a noise that sounded like a whine but totally wasn't a whine.

“I fucking hate you,” he complained. He got inside the elevator and Loki slid in beside him.

“ _If it interests you, sir,”_ Jarvis piped in. _“It appears that the ice is slowly sublimating.”_

“Sublimating? Just how fucking cold that stuff is?” Tony asked, turning to Loki.

“I believe you have already run tests on the temperature of Jotun ice,” he said.

“Yes, and there's no fucking way that stuff is solid water.”

“It is.”

“I know it is, I studied it. One: How do you manage to get it that far below 0° so quickly, and two: Where do you find that water in the first place?” Loki gave him a look as the elevator made a sound, meaning they had made it to their floor. “Yeah, yeah, magic.” Tony stifled a yawn. Now he had to sleep with his cast, great. Also, this suit was completely ruined, and it was literally new.

“Can I hope that with a broken bone you won't hit me dozens of times in your sleep?” Loki asked. Tony grinned at him.

“Nope”

 

***

 

Tony had been wrong, on the 'we seriously can't get much closer part'. Now Loki was always at least on the same floor as he was. Tony was in the penthouse, so was Loki. Tony was in the workshop, Loki was there. Tony was on the fucking communal floor, Loki followed. The first morning Tony had come down for breakfast with the Jotun on his tail, Clint had spit his coffee and spent the whole time perched on the fridge. For his part, Loki had just grabbed an apple and eaten it in the farthest corner away from Thor, who looked about ready to get on all fours and bark happily like the overgrown puppy he was. He made many comments about how happy was he to see his brother and all of them fell on deaf ears. Natasha had just plainly ignored Loki, and he had done the same with her.

Tony's phone beeped the moment they left the kitchen, heading to the workshop to start with their work.

_Why is he following you like a duckling follows his momma duck?_ Tony snorted.

_Are you really texting me from the next room?_ He texted back, as quick as he could with only his left hand.

_Yes,_ Clint was always Clint.

_He probably just wants to be loved or something. Btw, he said he'll leave your head alone_ well, it wasn't a complete lie.

_I don't trust him_

_Because I trust him with my life_

In a couple days, the others had kind of learned that if the just ignored Loki, the Jotun would ignore them. Apart from Thor, the Aesir now sported frostbite on his forehead and it still hadn't deterred him from trying to make conversation with Loki. Admirable determination, but kind of stupid.

The best part of the whole ordeal was that Loki was now forced to follow the same kind of unhealthy sleeping patterns Tony had. So after almost two days in the workshop spent doing whatever he could with his left hand despite all of Bruce's threats to get him out of there. Tony yawned, tired to his bones, and saw Loki sleeping peacefully on a workbench, knees tucked against his chest. Tony snapped a photo of the scene (there was never enough blackmail material) and shook the Jotun awake.

“Why are you touching me?” Loki asked the moment his red eyes landed on Tony.

“You were sleeping, I woke you. You're quite cute when you're asleep, you know?” he said. The insults that came out of Loki's mouth were completely worth almost having his good arm snapped in half.

 

***

 

“Hey Reindeer Games, I'm going down to the communal floor,” Stark shouted. Loki had been pacing in the spare bedroom. Having to follow Stark's every move was annoying to no end, but it was a sacrifice Loki was willing to make until they found a better solution to the problem. They had spent days in Stark's workshop, discussing theories and trying to come up with something. Stark was trying to find out where the scepter could be, but up to now he hadn't found anything. Even with his resources he couldn't find any report of what had happened to the staff after the battle.

If it had stayed on Midgard, then it was probably in the hands of this Hydra organization that had destroyed SHIELD, and Stark was very concerned by this possibility. But the three weeks hadn't passed, and he didn't have any tangible proof that Loki's words weren't lies, so he hadn't yet told his team anything. Loki was rather pleased by this. He wasn't eager to have all the Avengers knowing about the Gem.

Loki's best idea to resolve the issue of the sudden lack of privacy had been for Stark to build him another reactor so that he could take it with himself at all times. Stark had mentioned that he didn't trust Loki with an arc reactor (annoying, but after all Stark was not stupid) and that it was a work of high precision and he couldn't do it as long as his arm wasn't functioning. Midgardians were incredibly weak, they needed so long to heal wounds with that short of a lifespan.

“I am coming,” Loki said. Previous experiences have shown that it was enough for Stark to be on a different floor and the Gem's power could get to Loki.

“Thor is at Jane's if it can will you less grumpy,” Stark said. Loki noticed that the mortal still had bruises where Loki had gripped his wrist the day before. Good.

“I was there when he told you, remember?” While Loki couldn't understand the love Thor had for that mortal, the news of his staying at her home had been far from unwelcome. Even having Loki's unnaturally cold hand burning his face hadn't been enough to dissuade the Thunderer from speaking with him, and with Heimdall watching his every move he couldn't hurt him more than that. Only the knowledge of the eyes constantly observing him had kept Loki from seeing just what effect his Jotun powers have on a living body. Be it Thors or Starks.

“You know tonight is movie night here.”

“So?” Loki asked.

“So I'll spend the evening there with my teammates and we'll watch a movie, you know what that is right?”

“Yes, Stark, I know.” After Bruce had forced Tony to spend the whole day on his floor with no work at all, Stark had passed the majority of his time watching television. Loki truly couldn't understand why a genius would spend hours watching what Jarvis told him were children's shows. If _those_ were the kind of things that entertained Midgardian children, well... Not that he'd admit it to anyone, but that strange sponge was downright creepy.

“You sure you can handle being around people for more than half an hour?”

“I spend all of my time with you and you are still alive, so I suppose that yes, I can.”

“You hurt my feelings,” Stark commented. Loki preferred to not answer him.

As per usual, Stark and his companions sat at the table and started chatting, while eating the food they called pizza. Loki took a chair, dragged it as far as he could from them and opted for some vegetables and cheese he found. He didn't trust Midgardian food, it was too strange. This was the first Realm in which Loki had ever seen dishes made of so many foods put together, and after more than a month he still didn't think it would actually taste good (no matter how good it _smelled_ ). He stuck to a diet of things that were more or less similar to those he had on Asgard.

Barton was eyeing him carefully from the table every once in a while. Loki ignored him. The archer might have good reasons to be afraid of him. However, it didn't mean that Loki should act any different because of it. Stark was so used to his presence that he had long since stopped being careful around him, while Romanoff and Banner never actually acted scared of him. Romanoff was probably just too good a liar to show any kind of weakness, even though Loki didn't doubt she was observing him carefully. Banner... Banner didn't have reasons to be afraid of him. The only powers Loki had right now were the Jotun ones, and he highly doubted some ice would be enough to keep the monster away from him if needed.

“So what is tonight?” Stark asked when they finished eating and got up from the table.

“I want to watch Rapunzel,” Barton said.

“We watched Disney stuff last week.”

“So? Disney is Disney.”

“You're a fucking child,” Stark replied. “What about we watch the Sherlock Holmes movies?” Barton snorted.

“You only want to watch them because the actor looks like you” Romanoff said.

The argument went on for about twenty minutes until they settled for a movie proposed by Romanoff Loki thought was called “The Shining”. He sat on the floor far from the Avengers, not interested in the movie but forced to watch it. There were complaints from Stark, saying that Romanoff always chose those 'creepy ass films, Jeez why do you always have to go for that stuff' and a series of comments about how impossible it was that Banner never once saw that movie.

It turned out Stark did have some reasons for calling the movie creepy. While Loki knew it was all fake, he couldn't deny, but he would never admit that in certain parts of the movie he felt a shiver running down his back. Of course he steeled himself and kept the same bored expression during the movie, but certain scenes were enough to shake him. For some reason he found the habit of the child to talk with his imaginary friend quite unsettling.

By the end of the movie, Loki's head ached from having watched the television for so long. He understood that it was a common reaction if you weren't used to it, and all he wanted was to retreat to the penthouse.

“Well, thank you Nat, now I won't be able to sleep for a week,” Barton said.

“It was interesting,” Banner commented.

“Interesting or not, I have goosebumps. I am never again letting you chose the movie,” Stark pointed at Romanoff, who had a small grin on her lips. It made Loki slightly nervous to see the group acting so close to one another. Whatever. He got up and followed Stark to the penthouse “Had fun?”

“Not really,” Loki answered.

“I'm gonna have nightmares,” Loki raised his eyebrow.

“It was a movie. Why would it give you nightmares?”

“Fake or real, that was scary,” Stark said. “Hey, would you do me a favor and help me out with my shirt?” he asked, gesturing at his arm.

“No.” there was only one thing Loki would undress someone for, and he highly doubted Stark was willing right now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [My tumblr](http://www.a-weird-rusted-android.tumblr.com/)


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long wait guys, but here I am. This chapter has a tiny bit of attempt at something that can be considered smut though it's like a paragraph. I think I should tell you, there won't be a lot of long hugely detailed sex scenes, mostly because I don't really know how to write sex.

The married-with-Loki package that had been delivered to Tony without him asking for it came with a lot of downsides. Mostly downsides actually. The upsides amounted to one, this guy is fucking clever and knows a lot about stuff that happens in other parts of the universe and is willing to explain. That was it, more or less. As for the downsides, Tony had made a small list to summarize them.

One, Loki's personality. When he wasn't a murderous psychopath, and Tony was quite grateful that he hadn't had witnessed  _that_ side of him since the failed invasion. Loki was a annoying, spoiled, manipulative, arrogant jerk. Having a sass match with him could be entertaining, but most of the time he just got on Tony's nerves. Which led to an unending series of arguments between the two of them.

Two, the privacy was apparently an optional. Partly because of the general situation, partly because of their deal about this weird ass Gem that Tony still didn't totally believe. Tony began to seriously think of talking about it with someone else. The two were always in close proximity to each other. When they were sleeping, when they were eating, when Tony was trying to work with his currently fucked up arm. However, the Jotun was pretty pissed about it too, which only made point one worse.

Three, Tony liked to go out. He was a billionaire, that was what billionaires did, unless you were the reclusive kind of billionaire, and he really didn't want to be. But he was slowly becoming one. Because in a month Tony had gone out only once and that one time he had been attacked by stupid Doom and broke his arm. Tony knew eventually he would have to tell the media about this deal with Loki, because it was something you just can't keep hidden forever. But until he figured out how to actually break the news to anyone, he had to avoid situations where he might let something slip. Which was basically every time he went out. Also, he had doomed three weeks of his life to being followed by Loki everywhere, and you can't really go out with a Jotun trailing behind you without making people ask questions.

Four, come on, Tony had some rights to his love life and his sex life. If the first had already been more or less destined to be finished by the time Loki had been sent here, the latter so totally had not. 

Tony hadn't gained his playboy reputation by asking for it politely, but rather because he had lost count of the sexual partners he'd had by the time he was twenty. And yes, Loki was one hell of a sexy bastard and Tony was more than just a bit curious about what it would be like to sleep with a psycho god who once tried to kill you and would again given the chance, but asking him to have sex? Just how much of a bad idea would that be?

So you see, living with the talking equivalent of a cat with his claws in your balls plus not having a second for himself plus sexual frustration was a mix that had Tony on edge on daily basis. Also, he was being forced to not work because of his stupid bones and because Bruce threatened to take away his suits if he spotted him working himself stupid one more time before the bones were completely set meant that Tony was about to blow up something. The inventor let out the steam with the only person he was 100 fucking % sure  _couldn't_ stay away from him.

“If you do not turn off that noise in the immediate future I will kill you Stark.” Loki shouted from over 'Back in Black'.

“You can't kill me, Lo.”

“I do not care if the Allfather will make me pay for it, I will. And don't call me 'Lo.'”

“Sorry I can't hear you.” Tony used his remote to turn up the volume a bit, so the office workers at the lower floors of the Tower could probably hear him. Loki seemed to be about to say something, so Tony cut him off by singing along “ _I'm back in black, yes I'm back in black!_ ” Oh, Rudolph was _pissed_. He said something Tony couldn't quite get, what with not knowing how to read lips (and he should have Clint teaching him one of these days). The music stopped.

“Finally” Loki sighed.

“Hey, you turned off my music!” Jarvis was a fucking traitor, that's it.

“Yes, I believe I did.”

“ _Sir, Agent Romanoff sends her gratitude to Mr. Laufeyson for turning off the music.”_ Now he was looking smug, the little shit.

“What do you have against AC/DC?” Tony whined.

“Nothing, as long as it stays out of my hearing range.” Loki picked up the bottle of whiskey on the coffee table. “You have been drinking.”

“Jeez, what are you my mother?” Tony gestured at the glass “I didn't even drink a full glass.” Loki raised his eyebrow. “I used to be a functioning alcoholic until not so long ago, it takes a bit more to get me tipsy. And stop looking at me like that.”

“I am not looking at you in any particular way.”

“Yes you are, your face is literally saying 'I'm judging you so hard they can hear me judge in Asgard'.” Loki rolled his eyes.

“There is no way my facial expression can convey any sound.” Loki walked away and put the bottle in the mini fridge.

“Hey!” Tony stood up.

“I told you, I don't like drunks,” Loki said, catching Tony by his shoulder and forcing him to walk back.

“I don't give a fuck what you think about.” Tony tried to stay still, but Loki was still a Jotun and had no problems moving him.

“And I, to quote you, don't give a fuck about your bone structure and will not hesitate to break your other arm if you don't stop annoying me,” Loki growled, inches away from Tony's face, and the genius was quite painfully aware of the death grip on his shoulder. “I am warning you Stark, stop testing my patience or I will make you pay.” Now this was the moment when a human being with some self preservation instinct backs down.

“Terrified. Did you try it in front of the mirror or does the evil growl just comes to you naturally?” Tony asked, smiling to the dark blue face over him. Loki squeezed Tony's shoulder harder, getting a pained gasp out of him, and basically threw him back. The back of Tony's knees hit the couch and he had to sit. Loki was almost immediately in front of him.

“I would say it comes naturally,” he said, bending down and grabbing Tony's hair with his hand, tugging up to force the human to meet his eyes 

“Now Stark, this enjoyment you have for putting yourself in dangerous situation is something you might end up regretting very soon.” Tony gulped. 

This was a bit scary, and weirdly arousing. He'd always liked for things to be a little rough. He fisted his left hand in Loki's shirt and dragged him a bit closer. The Jotun had to bend his knees and straddle Tony's legs. Now this was a nice situation.

“That threat sounds like something you'd hear at the beginning of a B category porn movie, you know?” he said. Loki tilted his head. Tony flashed him a toothy smile. The Jotun seemed to be considering his options. Maybe Tony had managed to actually shock him-

Tony made a surprised sound when he felt a hand grab his crotch. He stared at Loki wide eyed. The hand squeezed him lightly through his pants and Tony gasped.

“What were you saying?” Loki asked, feigning innocence.

“The hell are you doing?” Tony gasped, and then moaned as Loki's hand kept moving over his covered cock. He was getting hard, and the Jotun must have noticed it.

“Do you wish for me to stop?” Loki asked, giving him a smug grin. The thing he was doing to Tony's body with just one hand over his clothes shouldn't be allowed.

“Fuck no,” Tony said, too little blood in his brain to think about why this could turn out to be a terrible idea. He leaned up and licked a stripe along Loki's collarbone. The Jotun's skin had a strange taste, and the feeling of those marks under his tongue was doing things to Tony. “Want me to stop?” he asked, stretching his neck to bite lightly at Loki's earlobe.

“Don't you dare.” Loki crashed his mouth against Tony's, his cold tongue slipping out and between the human's lips. 

Tony moaned and kissed back, teeth biting not so gently and tongue curling around the other's. He brought his hand up and tangled it in Loki's hair, slick from the product the Jotun obviously used to keep it back. Loki made a sound against Tony's mouth which had Tony's hips thrusting up into that hand. He could almost feel Loki's grin against his mouth, but he couldn't bring himself to care. Instead he pushed his tongue into Loki's mouth, decided to find out what the Jotun's palate tasted like.

Loki broke the kiss with a gasp and moved so that he was seated more comfortably on Tony's lap. He pushed down his hips, and Tony could feel another hardness pressing down against his own. The both of them moaned. 

Loki set a pace, grinding down against Tony in fast, hard thrusts. Tony was left to just enjoy the ride, which he did very much. He bit on Loki's long neck, earning himself a gasp. His hand left Loki's hair to run down his back, feeling the cold skin under the fabric of the shirt. The inventor hummed and sucked on Loki's Adam apple, finding that he really, really liked the strange, fresh taste of Jotun skin. 

Loki gasped and tugged on Tony's hair, bringing his mouth up to kiss him again, with maybe too much teeth but Tony couldn't say he minded it. Surely not when his now rock hard cock and Loki's kept being pressed together like that.

The Jotuns mouth traveled down and he started sucking Tony's neck, pressing sloppy kisses and biting slightly, not enough to mark but Tony could feel the sting of those sharp canines nonetheless. He threw his head back and let out a string of profanities, getting louder as Loki's thrusts became even faster, and he tried to push his hips up to meet the other's halfway. His hand landed on Loki's ass, and the Jotun moaned as Tony squeezed it through his jeans. Fuck, it was a really nice ass.

“Fuck, this is so fucking good, God, fuck, fuck, fuck!” Tony cursed as he came in his pants, back arching as much as he could with Loki sitting over him. The Jotun kept thrusting, moaning unashamedly against Tony's neck, until he pressed down hard one last time and he threw his head back in pleasure. And God did the sound coming out of his throat almost make Tony hard a second time.

Loki collapsed over Tony and they just stayed there for a while, regaining their breath. Now that Tony's blood flow wasn't concentrated on just one part of his anatomy and he was regaining some sense, he couldn't actually believe what just happened. Fucking,  _Loki_ had basically jumped him and he hadn't even tried to at least slow things down. No, he had thrown himself into one hell of a dry humping session which ended in both of them coming in their pants. Actually maybe it was more that Tony had shown Loki that he wouldn't mind being dry humped and the Jotun had accepted.

“Move, my arm's hurting,” Tony said. Loki hummed and pushed himself up, getting off of Tony and sitting on the couch right next to him.

“You complain too much,” he declared, head thrown back against the couch and all traces of anger away from his face. Yep, Tony just had angry sex with a god.

“Just why did you jump me?” Tony asked. “'m not complaining about it, just curious”

“Because the only person I can have sex with is you, and I don't plan on spending the rest of my years being abstinent.” Tony could relate to that “As to why in this particular moment, it was as good as any and hopefully you will be less insufferable now.” Tony chuckled.

“That makes it sound like it was a pain to you”

“Luckily ugliness is not one of your many flaws.” Tony laughed at that.

“Whoa, did you just tell me I'm pretty?”

“I did not, I merely stated that you are not ugly”

“Well let's hope that the less insufferable part applies to you too. By the way, you think there's any chance we'll be doing that again anytime soon?” Because damn, being chaste was something Tony was done with too, and he had to admit that ugliness wasn't one of Loki's many flaws either.

“Greedy, Stark?” Loki asked, after looking mildly surprised for a second “I assure you, I don't plan on avoiding intercourse for another prolonged period of time.”

“Good, 'cause one month and a half without sex? Never again”

“For you it has been one month and a half, for me since a while before my invasion.” Loki stated casually.

“What? That's... That's like... 2 years?” Tony couldn't believe it. No wonder Rudolph was so annoyed all the time.

“Yes. I think I will go take a shower,” Loki said, getting up from the couch. His jeans sported a wide stain. Tony grinned, before remembering that he probably wasn't in any better state.

 

***

 

The situation with Stark had been a rather unexpected development. While Loki couldn't deny that the man was attractive, and he may or may not have already thought about having his wicked way with Tony when they had first met two years before. But, he hadn't expected them to actually have sex (or even rut against each other like animals in heat like they just did). Not this soon at least.

Loki looked down at his body while he washed off the semen. He still hated, with all of his being, his biological heritage and loathed having to remain in this form, but he had gained a certain acceptance of his body. The sight of himself didn't give him the urge to tear his skin off with his nails; but it certainly didn't mean he liked his body or find it even remotely  _attractive_ . With his blue ridged skin and his blood red eyes, he knew he couldn't be considered an exiting sight. But maybe Stark had a particular liking for different looking people.

Whatever it was that had Stark so interested in his body, at least it meant he could let out some of frustration in a way. Loki already felt more relaxed now that he had had a release. Hopefully his staying here on Midgard would become slightly less boring.

“You done in there?” Stark asked from behind the door “You know, drying come isn't the best thing to have in your pants.” Loki supposed he was clean enough by now, so in a surge of altruism that surprised even himself he dried himself quickly, wrapped a towel around his waist and exited the bathroom. Stark was standing right outside, seemingly uncomfortable in his pants. There was a reason Loki had showered first.

“You could have used the other bathroom”

“I prefer this one,” Stark replied, grinning.

“If you say so.” Loki raised an eyebrow. The mortal was staring. Or rather running his eyes all over Loki's chest. Loki fought the urge of crossing his arms to cover himself up. Being observed while he was in this form made him truly uncomfortable “Didn't you want to shower?”

“Well, I don't get to have this view in the shower,” Stark said. He winked and walked around Loki to enter the bathroom. Loki frowned, unsure what Stark would like so much about his chest. Some strange fetish it was, then. Maybe just excitement for a complete new kind; it wasn't impossible with Stark's reputation (he had done some research on Stark as soon as he understood the working of the thing called Internet and there were even videos of his escapades).

Loki's Asgardian clothes were still in the wardrobe, but for some reason they didn't appeal him. They were, after all, the clothes he had worn  _that_ day (and interesting scientific discussions and the promise of sex weren't nearly enough to make him think that this... political deal had been anything but a humiliating torture conceived in Odin's mind). He opted for a sleeveless green t-shirt that resembled a tunic and black leather trousers. He ran a hand through his wet hair. He would have to slick it back once it had dried enough. He checked the cloth on his right wrist; it was still tied tightly.

 

***

 

“ _Mr Odinson has returned, sir. He has brought Doctor Foster with him”_

“Thanks Jar,” Tony said. He stretched his free arm and got up from the couch. “Hey, behave ok?”

“I am not some child.” Tony chuckled at he response.

“Yeah, yeah. Look I'm going down 'cause Jane is brilliant and me and Bruce are going to do science with her, so do me a favor don't be a utter dick with her just 'cause she's Thor's girlfriend, k?” Loki made a face and didn't move from the armchair he was sitting in.

“Is she truly this interesting?” his voice dripped with distrust and resentment.

“Who, Jane? I told you, she's clever. Well, maybe not as much as me and Brucie but she's quite above average, and she's cool. So me and Bruce have elected her as our Science Sis. We love her and if you treat her bad you'll regret it dearly.” Loki looked vaguely amused.

“Very well then, what are we waiting for?” he said, gesturing to the elevator.

Jane and Bruce were already chatting when Tony and Loki arrived to the communal floor. Thor was standing near his girlfriend, listening to what she was saying even if he didn't understand half the words and staring at her with an adoring expression. One of these days Tony was going to get diabetes just by standing too close to them.

“You started sciencing without me?” Tony asked, with on over exaggerated pout.

“I think you'll manage to catch up with us,” Jane said, smiling.

“Maybe.” Tony noticed Thor's eyes had moved to a point behind him “I hope you don't mind if he kind of... stares menacingly in the corner,” Tony said, turning around to find Loki a couple meters away.

“No, no, I... uh... Thor told me about the... thing, yeah.” Jane eyed Loki carefully “So you're Thor's brother?” she asked, moving aside to face him. Well, one couldn't say she lacked in the courage compartment.

“I am not his brother, but I suppose that I am the person you are talking about.” Loki said, eyes cold and a sharp grin on his face. Tony didn't like that face, it kind of made him think that Loki was already planning a way to screw with her-

A loud noise of flesh hitting flesh filled the room as Jane slapped Loki with all her strength, and she was stronger than her appearance let on. Loki's face turned one side and he blinked, clearly trying to process what exactly had just happened. Tony, Bruce and Thor just stared at Jane wide eyed.

“Well, he deserved it after... you know, New York,” she said, as if to justify herself. Only Tony was sure there was no hint of apology in her voice. Loki turned his face to Thor, a grin on his face.

“I like this one. She's better than most women you've had,” he said, apparently very amused and apparently quite used to criticizing Thor's girlfriends.

“I guess we should... go at my lab?” Bruce suggested.

“Yes. Anyway, about earlier...” Bruce and Jane fell back in the conversation on their way to the elevator. Tony and Thor shared a look, a silent exchange that went along he lines of 'Your girlfriend is terrifying' 'Aye, I know', before Tony followed the two scientists. Loki ran his tongue over his lower lip.

“She is quite strong for a mortal,” he commented.

“Now you see why I told you that you'd regret treating her poorly? 'Cause she can fuck you up ten ways to Sunday” Loki looked down at him.

“How many times has she slapped _you_ exactly?” he asked.

“I was doing experiments without precautions and blowing up stuff, I mean I can understand the second but if I didn't think the security measures and all that stuff was necessary I did have my reasons,” Tony mumbled.

“You haven't answered my question”

“...Four.” Loki grinned, but they had reached Bruce and Jane so Tony couldn't ask him what was so funny. His StarkPhone suddenly beeped and Tony had to separate himself once again from an interesting topic to read the message. And... _really_? First of all, when did Loki get an account in the private 'chatroom' Tony had created for the Avengers and close friends. And second...

_From: loki_laufeyson_

_Four times? This gives me the idea that you didn't truly mind it, Stark. Shall I take notice of this for future reference? Don't worry, it would be a true pleasure for me too. By the way, your account name is terrible_

 

_To: loki_laufeyson_

_You are the one who smiled when she slapped you. And who's the sick fuck who showed you how to make an account? Also, don't judge, you literally put your name and surname_

 

_From: loki_laufeyson_

_You explained the concept of chat to me, I found a way to access this chatroom. However, my name and surname are better than “thefuckingIronMan”_

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [My Tumblr](http://www.a-weird-rusted-android.tumblr.com)


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First of all, a HUGE thank you to everyone who's left kudos/comments/bookmarks. As of now this story has more than 230 kudos, it's amazing. You're amazing for sticking with me. And to everyone who left me a comment, I'm sorry I didn't reply, I know I'm a shitty person, I'll do my best to answer you next time.  
> I took the liberty of putting another porn scene in this chapter. Some people have told me I'm not that bad at writing smut, I'm still not convinced but it's fun to write. And we also have some semblance of action in here. More or less. Not telling anything else.
> 
> But really, so many people like this story. I'm feeling so fucking powerful right now.

The alarm went off while Bruce was showing Tony and Jane one of his new experiments. Bruce threw a vaguely annoyed glance at Tony - and really, he didn't do anything bad, he just changed the usual irritating sound with something more enjoyable - before both him and Tony were running out of the lab. Jane and Loki followed, the former worried, the latter apparently totally indifferent.

“What's happening?” Tony asked, meeting Natasha on the communal floor.

“You're not allowed to tinker with the alarm anymore, that's what's happening”

“Let's be serious for a moment, please.” Nat turned toward Bruce.

“Someone is attacking us not far from here. We're not sure who they are - some new villain, probably - but they have a small army of... things, for lack of a better word, and we'd better hurry- No, not you Tony. You stay here.”

“Why?” Tony asked.

“Because you have a broken arm, genius. Steve and Sam are already around here, we have this under control even without you.”

“But-”

“No buts.” Natasha walked away with a dramatic swish of her hair and disappeared with the other Avengers, leaving Tony alone with Jane and Loki.

“I'm sure you'll be fine by the next attack,” Jane said.

“I'm gonna suit up,” Tony declared, heading for the workshop.

“No you aren't.” Loki grabbed him by left his arm and stopped him.

“I'm a grown up man, I can decide what kind of shit I'm gonna put myself into and if I wanna head into a fight with a broken arm I will, now let me go.” Tony tried to tear himself from Loki's dead grip, but he couldn't move, unless he tore his arm from its socket, that is. Damn gods and their godly strength.

“I thought I was clear enough that I need you alive right now, so you aren't going to get yourself killed until we found a solution to our problem,” Loki growled.

“Your problem you mean.”

“I'm going on Thor's floor to watch the fight on TV,” Jane awkwardly said, leaving them.

“It is your problem too, unless you want to see your friend Barton and a considerable number of other humans fall under the Gem's control.”

“I'm not gonna sit here while my friends go out and possibly get themselves killed while some fucked up guy decides to blow up New York,” Tony jumped to see if that at least would make Loki release him, but in the end it only hurt Tony's shoulder.

“Then don't sit.” Loki dragged Tony to the elevator, despite the hero's protests “Do something productive, for example try to find a way to make me not depend on the light inside your chest”

“What makes you think that right now I'd do a better job than in the last two weeks?”

“It is not my fault if your mind is not as great as you like to say.” low blow.

“My mind is fine, unlike someone else's here.” Loki narrowed his eyes.

“The only thing keeping the Gem out is your reactor, if you can't build one you can... lend me yours until your arm is functioning again, I'm sure that having an empty hole in your chest for a while isn't going to kill you,” Tony snorted at that.

“Oh, it is.” Loki raised an eyebrow. Tony huffed. “Well, it's not like I put that thing in there because I was bored, I did because there are pieces of shrapnel inside my chest and the arc reactor is the thing that stops them from planting themselves inside my chest, so yes, it would kill me.” Loki looked taken aback. So no one had told him this part when he had come invading Earth.

“Can't you remove them?”

“Do you think that if I could I would still be keeping the reactor?” Loki opened his mouth, then closed it. He seemed to be deep in thought. Tony scoffed angrily, and leaned against the elevator's wall. Loki's hand was going to leave a nice print on his arm, like he hadn't given him enough bruises already.

“Who would have the idea of putting something like that in your chest to save your life?” Loki asked.

“None of your business.” Tony wasn't comfortable when it came to talking about Yinsen and Afghanistan. He had said all that happened to very few people, one of which turned out to be the reason he was captured in the first place. He was so not going to tell Loki anything.

“Keep your secrets. But see that you remain alive.” Tony's eyes widened as realization downed him.

“You're scared.”

“I am not _scared,_ ” Loki spat the last word like poison.

“You are. You're not just afraid to fall under that thing's influence, you're fucking _terrified._ ” Tony couldn't believe he hadn't thought about it earlier. Of course no one would want to be mind controlled, but he had labeled Loki's as mere apprehension. No, the Jotun was as scared as a kid is about the monster under the bed. And Tony was the blanket you hide under to become invincible. It made him strangely... human.

“No, I'm not. You are wrong Stark, I am not.” Loki bared his teeth, and Tony wondered if they'd always been so sharp. Of course, he had quite literally felt them against his throat just about six hours earlier, but he hadn't really thought about how sharp they were. Predatory. A soft ding told them they were on the workshop floor.

“It's fine, everyone's scared at times,” Tony said, thinking about the first bullshit sentence one said when someone was frightened. Stupid hero instincts, always demanding for him to be a good guy. He hadn't expected Loki's face to fall like that for a second, before returning to his usual coldness.

“No, not everyone,” he said. Tony thought about Thor, about how the god had never once admitted his fears, not even when they had done a team “Truth or Dare” game and even Nat had said something about how close spaces made her uncomfortable. From the little he knew about Vikings, they were all scared of nothing and all that bullshit. Probably also Asgard was like that, and being scared was like the ultimate proof of weakness or something. It was quite depressing actually, and explained why Loki didn't want to admit that he was scared (apart from his pride, because that could fill the whole Tower by itself).

“Wanna go watch the fight on TV with Jane?” Tony asked after an awkward pause. Loki nodded. Tony pressed the button to Thor's floor. Jane was sitting on the couch by the television, eyes glued on the screen.

“They just arrived,” she said without looking at them. Tony sat next to her while Loki stood still for a moment, before opting for the floor near the couch. The new villain looked like some kind of crazy doctor with an army of... the fuck were those things? Tony wasn't really sure how to define them, other than purple, ugly and definitely something that by all laws of nature and common sense should not be alive. 

On screen, Cap's shield and Mjolnir were destroying as much as those fuckers as possible, the respective owners trying to stay away as much as possible since apparently the ugly things exploded and covered the area all around them with this stuff that looked disgusting. Hulk seemed to not care in the slightest about it and was currently covered in blue-ish slime. Clint, Sam and Natasha were nowhere to be seen, but judging by the Purply occasionally exploding without apparent impromptu they were using all of their aiming skills and long range weapons to stay the fuck away from the main fight.

“They're winning, right?”

“Jeez Jane, calm down, they just arrived. Those things don't even look dangerous, I mean what do they even do?” just then, one thing jumped Cap and while it wasn't exactly clear what was happening there was blood and purple stuff being thrown away and Steve was sporting a huge red spot on his shoulder “So that's what a Purply does”

“Purply?” Jane repeated.

“They're purple, so without a better term I'm gonna call 'em Purplies.” Jane didn't answer, probably used to new words being made. She lived with Darcy Lewis after all, and in the only occasion he had met Darcy she had managed to give _Tony_ a bullshit induced headache.  He needed to call her sometimes, she was cool.

“And you call yourself a genius,” Loki evidently was still not bullshit proof it seemed.

Sam flied down from the skies and grabbed  C razy  S cientist. The Purplies that had been apparently his bodyguards  jumped around and one actually managed to attach itself to Sam's leg. The camera followed Sam's flight, as he let villain fall on  the rooftop  Clint was on  and then started making acrobatics to get the Purply off. In the end something that was probably an arrow hit the Purply and made it explode. Sam landed badly on another rooftop and then the camera was going back to Hulk roaring and smashing  and generally being his green self .

“Well they're probably taking the psycho in custody. I'd say the rest of the fight will only be random purple explosions,” Tony said.

“I'll keep watching.”

“Really, they'll be fine, your boyfriend isn't in any real danger right now. I suppose, I mean I don't know how sharp that stuff's teeth or claws or whatever are, but I guess no one will get really hurt, especially him.” or so he hoped, despite knowing that his team could handle themselves very well even without him he still worried about them whenever he wasn't able to help.

“What a pity,” Loki commented, and Tony didn't miss that he had sat in a position that was out of Jane's reach.

“I'll slap you later,” she said “Why is that one so big?” Tony looked back at the screen and yep, that Purply there was really really big. About Hulk big. And wait, there were more than one.

“Why do villains always insist on confirming the theory about bad people being ugly?” Tony whined. Loki turned his head an glared. But come on, his eyes were dying just by looking at those things. Cap's shield embedded in one of the big Purplies, uh, head probably, and instead of exploding or at least dying the thing went on a Hulk-like rampage and decided to destroy everything around it. Soon there was a Hulk+Thor vs. big Purplies and Steve was trying to get his shield back.

In the end, what Tony supposed was one of Clint's enhanced arrows hit one of the monsters in the eye, let out an electrical charge and finally made the thing explode. Thor followed Clint example, and the scene was cut with a fluids covered Steve finally grabbing his shield. Tony knew that now he would spend something like three hour cleaning it, because the shield was like some kind of flat puppy for Steve and as such he treated it.

“Are we done?” Loki asked.

“This thing lasted less than an hour, are you really already bored?” the look Tony received said yes “Excuse me Jane, I have to take care of a fucking baby.”

“Don't worry,” she said, as the two men got up.

“Why didn't you sit on the couch like normal people instead than the floor?”

“Because I know Thor,” Loki flatly responded.

“And?”

“And if he has spent a considerable amount of time here with the Lady Jane I would rather not sit on the couch or on any kind of flat furniture.”

“Oh, come on!” Tony whined “I feel dirty!”

“Mh. Speaking of which, I hope you are not totally opposed to a bit of... experimentation, when it comes to certain matters.” Tony grinned. His life had just became better, it seemed.

 

***

 

Loki was forced to follow Stark around as he ran to every single one of his teammates, apparently to annoy them but Loki could tell that he was worried. Why, he couldn't understand, since they had both watched the fight on the television and seen that they were relatively unharmed.

Barton and Romanoff where helping Wilson walk, the latter having a painful looking wound on his right leg. Thor, Banner and Rogers were completely covered in this disgusting blue substance. Loki truly didn't envy Banner in the least, the doctor seemed to have lost his clothes after the transformation and had now a towel around his waist to hide his most private parts; judging by the rest of his figure Loki could only guess _where_ that slime had ended up being. And washing all the substance from Thor's hair was going to take at least an hour. Lovely.

“Sam, go straight in the infirmary, I'll be right there. And I want to take a look at you later Steve, your shoulder healed already but I want to make sure this stuff is not dangerous,” Banner said before disappearing somewhere.

“The fight went good I take it?” Stark commented.

“This thing is making me sick. It stinks.” Rogers was right, the smell was terrible.

“Yep. I was wondering, did any Purply survive? Because if one of them is still alive I wanna blow it up myself.” Rogers gave Stark a blank stare “You know, those.”

“Purply? Really Tony?” Rogers seemed to notice Loki in that moment, for he tensed and adjusted his grip on the shield “Loki”

“Captain,” Loki said, giving his most irritating smile.

“Tony, can I have a couple words with you in private?”

“Sure.” Rogers brought Stark in the kitchen for what Loki could assume was a rant about how dangerous it was for him to be following Stark around the Tower, or anyway something along those lines. This distrust was starting to get on Loki's nerves; didn't the mortals got the message that he _couldn't_ harm anyone in any serious way or Odin would finally find an excuse to ignore his wife and son and have Loki's head at a considerable distance from the rest of his body?

Loki sat on the couch of the communal floor, absently observing some robots cleaning up the mess caused by the Avengers walking around covered in slime and blood. He created a barely there layer of ice, just to see the robots slipping around. He hated to admit it, but he was starting to like the powers he had at first used only to learn how to control them. Probably because they were the only kind of magic he could use. The Allfather hadn't thought about them when he put his bindings over Loki, or maybe he simply believed Loki would be too disgusted by his own nature to use them. Fool. Loki had showed him many times that he was willing to use every resource he had to compensate where he was lacking. He didn't have the strength of a warrior so he used his magic and a completely different (many would say 'dishonorable') fighting style to become one of Asgard's best warriors (no matter what most of the Asgardians said, _he_ had won as many fights as Thor, only the oaf 'fought with honor' and didn't use 'tricks'). Now, with his magic binded, Loki would learn the extent of his Jotun powers and how to use them, not to fight obviously, but rather to show Odin that he was deeply mistaken if he ever thought of him as 'weak'.

“ _Fine_ , rant finished?” Stark said, coming out of the kitchen.

“Yes, rant finished. For now.” Rogers followed him “And only because I can't stand having this stuff on me for much longer.”

“Say it Stevie, you can't stand that _shit_ on you for much longer.”

“No, I won't say it.” Rogers threw Loki a glance, before walking away.

“I'm trying to make him swear and he won't. But one day he will,” Stark declared.

“Your programs for the future are always fascinating.”

“Now you sound like a Vulcan.”

“What is a Vulcan?”

“Never mind. Can I call you Spock on occasion?” Loki followed Stark in the elevator. There were no doubts that Stark would call Loki in that manner even if he said no.

“It is getting increasingly difficult to not kill you with every new nickname.”

“Aw, I guess I just have to find better ones.” Stark pretend to be deep in thought “What about... Olaf? Or Ice Cream? Drama Queen? Cold Hearted Man?” Loki wrapped his hand on Stark's mouth. He sighed, the elevator having gone blissfully silent. Just has it stopped at the penthouse, something very warm and wet moved against Loki's finger.

“Are you licking me?”

“Mmh-mmh”

“You and I have to find a better part of my body to put your tongue on.” Stark's eyes widened slightly. Loki smirked. He took his hand away from Stark's mouth, and the mortal licked his lips.

“And when exactly do you plan on enacting this... experiment of yours?”

“Now.” he grabbed Stark by his shirt and dragged him across the living room “Kneel.” Loki smirked, sitting on the couch, his legs spread open.

“Oh, yeah, who liked foreplay anyway? Why the hell would I even think about doing this after some nice French kissing or maybe even on a surface that does not kill my knees?” Stark complained, but knelt anyways. Loki sighed. He wasn't looking for languid love making, he just wanted to feel pleasure now. “Bit of help there?” Loki unbuckled his pants and Stark took out his still flaccid cock. The mortal let out a low whistle. He licked his lips, stroking Loki slowly with his hand. Loki sighed and let his head fall back, blood already rushing to his cock. Almost two years of complete chastity make one rather responsive.

Stark's hand was so incredibly warm against his skin. His mouth would be even hotter. The thought made Loki's cock twitch in Stark's hand. The mortal chuckled.

“Stop laughing and suck me,” Loki commanded, glancing down at him.

“As you wish.” Stark grinned one last time and took Loki in his mouth. Loki groaned loudly. Oh yes, Stark's mouth was like a furnace. So hot against his skin it was almost painful. If Loki hadn't been completely hard before, he certainly was now.

Loki put his hand on Stark's head and pushed him down further on his cock. His tongue was wonderful, but Loki wasn't in the mood for taking it slow. He would have more than enough time to find out exactly how good Stark's technique was, now he was still too full of sexual frustration and just wanted to come as soon as he could. Stark seemed to get the hint, because he started bobbing his head up and down, helping himself with his hand where he couldn't quite reach. Gods, he was good. Loki moaned and closed his eyes in bliss. Stark made some sound in his throat, the vibrations making Loki's hips jerk up.

“Stark” he growled. The mortal hummed around him, making Loki thrust his hips up inside that scorching heat. He was already close to completion “Fuck, keep doing that” Stark repeated the sound. Loki was moaning shamelessly now, his hips moving of their own accord. He could feel his balls tightening, the heat in his lower abdomen becoming more intense. With an half chocked shout, he came inside Stark's mouth. The mortal chocked, but managed to swallow his seed anyway.

“You still with me?” Stark asked after a minute or so, as Loki had just sagged back against the couch, his breath heavy.

“Unfortunately.”

“Unfortunately? I just gave you a blowjob and you say 'unfortunately'?” Loki opened his eyes and looked down at Stark, pouting on the ground.

“Yes. Unfortunately. My turn.” he grabbed Stark by his good arm and forced him to sit on the couch beside him, before getting in the same position the mortal had been just a second before.

“I hope cold doesn't bother you,” he said, opening Stark's trousers. He was aware that if Stark's mouth had felt like a furnace on him, his had to be freezingly cold for the mortal. And Loki could admit he had many flaws, but he was a very considerate lover.

Loki pulled out Stark's cock and smirked. Nice. Not as long as he was, but very nice.

“No Elsa, it doesn't.” Loki glared but didn't stop his motions. Stark was already hard, a drop of pre-ejaculate on the tip of his cock. Loki looked at him for a moment, before showing Stark exactly what his skills in this kind of matters were. Specifically, he swallowed him down and stopped only when his nose was against Stark's pelvis. He was pretty sure the chocked words he heard coming out of the mortal's mouth didn't make sense in any language. Loki hollowed his cheeks and repeated the motions Stark had made on him before, only Loki could swallow Stark completely, much to the mortal's pleasure ti seemed. Loki's throat felt like it was on fire, but he didn't mind. He rather liked it, actually.

Stark fisted his free hand in Loki's hair, his hips jerking. Loki made a disapproving sound - which only got a gasp out of Stark - and put his hands firmly on his hips, stilling him from any kind of movement. The whines this motion earned were quite entertaining. He scraped his teeth gently across Stark's cock and the mortal came with a cry. Loki held his seed in his mouth for a moment before swallowing. He tasted quite good. Different from Asgardians.

“Do you have God of Blowjobs somewhere between your titles?” Stark breathlessly asked after a while, turning his head lazily to his side, where Loki had sat since kneeling wasn't a position he was too fond of.

“Not that I am aware of. But if you desire to worship me as such, I will not stop you. I believed Midgradians had foreskin, was I mistaken?”

“I'll send you a PowerPoint presentation later”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [My Tumblr](http://www.a-weird-rusted-android.tumblr.com/)


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy New Year to all of you, may 2015 bring you everything you wish for!

“Tony, we need to talk,” Natasha said, stepping out of the elevator.

“It wasn't my fault,” Tony automatically responded, while he kept twisting on the couch. His arm hitched. The one with the cast. And it hurt too. Like, I just broke a bone five minutes ago kind of hurt. It'd been fucking annoying him all day, so Tony had annoyed Loki in turn and the Jotun had retreated to the guest bedroom, the closest to where Tony.

“Stop spending your time with Clint”

“Well, given that Loki is following me every where my time with Clint ha-”

“I have news about the people who attacked you about one month ago.” this made Tony perk up.

“Really?”

“Yes. Hill told me earlier. Apparently all of them spent the last two to three weeks in a state of nearly complete apathy. They barely ate, drank or slept. They seemed to be unable to recognize their own families, or even understand simple questions. They spoke only occasionally, and usually didn't make any sense. Yesterday one of them came out of this state, he started panicking and saying that he didn't mean to do what he did. Other two awakened shortly after, while the others are still unresponsive. While those three that returned to themselves had no contacts whatsoever, they all agree that they didn't want to do any of what they did. They say that they just felt their heads completely empty, as if someone else was controlling their movements. They didn't know where to find the weapons, or each others, or even where to attack you, but they did,” Natasha paused, staring at Tony intently. He knew she already had her own theories, she always did. His brain was working madly too, putting together pieces of information.

“Anything else?” he asked.

“Yes. It appears that the boy they killed, who is still unidentified, was at the beginning one of them too. Only after you shot a blast in their direction and there was a moment of confusion he tried to run away”

“Nat, can you leave me alone for a sec?” Tony had a bad feeling about this. Very bad.

“Yes. But if you happen to have any theory, I'd like to know it”

“I have a couple. But I need to, uh, put my thoughts together.” Natasha quirked her eyebrow up. She shot a glance towards the door leading to the other rooms of the penthouse, before nodding and taking the elevator to a lower floor.

“Jarvis” Tony stood up “I need all the footage from the attack, both the one from the suit and those from all cameras around the scene. And the dead boy's autopsy report.” all the requested info appeared around Tony. He replayed certain parts of the attack, and re-read the whole autopsy twice. And fuck. It made a lot of sense. Now he had to drag Loki out of the room and down to the communal floor where they could have a talk with the others.

“What is it, Stark?” the Jotun asked, stretched on bed.

“You know your stupid shiny stone? I think I know where it finished. And I should've spoke with the others weeks ago. Get up and come with me so you can explain what I can't, I'll tell you the rest later.” Loki tilted his head, considering.

“Fine,” he hissed, getting off of the bed.

“We are going to have a little surprise team conference,” Tony said five minutes later, having called all the other Avengers currently in the Tower, which amounted to Nat, Clint and Bruce, in the communal living room “And someone will repeat it later to the ones that aren't here right now. Not me, because I don't like repeating myself. So, if you could please start with the other wordly part.” Loki glared.

“I expect you to explain in details what this is all about,” he growled.

“Just get on with it, Reindeer Games.” Loki launched himself into a brief summary of what the Mind Gem was and why he and Tony were joined at the hip nowadays. Apart from Clint squirming when the subject was breached and a few disapproving looks from the team when they found out that Tony had been keeping this for almost three weeks, it went well.

“Thank you for not telling me that my free will depends on his head being near your reactor, really you're a great friend,” Clint muttered. Tony could deal with a pissed bird later, now he had other things running around his head.

“Now it makes sense.” Natasha said. Clint, Bruce and Loki stared at her, all missing vital part of information.

“Yep. Ok guys, Nat here told me that the bastards who attacked me one month ago have been snapping out of some sort of trance recently, and they say they didn't mean to anything that they did. And re-watching the fight I noticed that, while it's not really clear thanks to distance, they all seemed to have bright blue eyes. And the hostage _was_ at first one of them, only became an hostage after he fell down and hit his head on the concrete. As you may remember, I was out because Steve called for help in a Hydra attack nearby.” Clint cursed loudly.

“Tony,” Bruce asked “Why exactly did you think not telling us about this Gem the moment Loki came to you was anywhere near a good idea?”

“I was going to tell you guys!” Tony protested “In about, uh, about...”

“ _Two days, sir”_

“Thanks Jar.” Bruce raised an eyebrow “Ok, look, it wasn't like I believed what he said the moment he said it, so I told him to stick to me for three weeks and after three weeks of nothing weird happening then I would have told you. And the three weeks mark is in two days, but now I have proof that he wasn't lying so I'm telling you now”

“This isn't the moment to talk about Tony's communication issues. We should warn Steve and Sam first, then I'll contact Fury and ask him if he has any idea of what could have happened to the Gem. In the meantime, I don't want to see you two” Natasha pointed at Tony and Loki “At more than five meters from one another at all times”

“Why would I obey you?” Loki asked.

“You likely won't. But Tony will, won't he?” she smiled.

“Yeah, I think I will.” Nat was pissed. That smile was the smile she typically gave you right before slitting your throat. Now Tony's self-preservation instincts weren't really easy to trigger, but when Natasha acted like that he wanted to just curl in a corner and cry. Cap might have been the natural choice for a team leader, but no one questioned the fact that when he wasn't around all authority went to Nat.

“Good. Give me ten minutes, I'll tell you what I find out.” she picked up her phone and walked to the other room. Tony fidgeted on his feet awkwardly while Clint's eyes threw daggers at him.

“Maybe you _should_ have believed me the moment I decided to first tell you about the Gem.” Loki was having far too much fun for Tony's liking.

“Shut up and go fuck yourself,” he retaliated. Quite lamely.

“Now, isn't that something you would like to watch?” Loki mused. Clint made a distressed sound.

“Oh God, you two aren't!” he look between them, before clutching his head in his hands “Of course, of course you're sleeping together!”

“That, I believe, is not any of your business Barton”

“You're the one who brought it up in the first place, you know?” Tony commented, suddenly very interested in how the ceiling was made. It was a very beautiful ceiling, painted of a very pretty shade of white paint.

“Seriously, I mean... You've been married for like two months, the sexual frustration couldn't have been that much already”

“Evidently it was,” Bruce huffed.

“Are you guys done discussing my sex life?” Tony could have expected that from Clint, but Bruce? Really?

“That's what people have been doing for at least twenty years, Tony,” Bruce said.

“This is so many levels of disturbing,” Clint whined, taking his face between his hands. Loki had a rather pleased smirk on his face.

“What, you were expecting me to go celibate for life?” Tony asked.

“No, just, God-” Clint made some strange sounds behind his hands “Now I have to live with the knowledge you two are fucking and the simple thought will give me nightmares for life”

“Let's say we weren't expecting the two of you to move to that point in so little time,” Bruce supplied.

“Are we truly that aesthetically unappealing to gain such a reaction?” Loki mused, turning his gaze to Tony.

“No, you aren't. Less than three months, losers” Natasha said, walking back in the room. Bruce and Clint groaned and handed her what looked like twenty bucks each. _Fucking really?_ “Fury says he doesn't know where Hydra could have taken the Gem. Steve told me that he'll interrogate the first person with some influence in the organization that he can find. Both of them asked me to tell you that they'll have words with you the first time you meet. I have some files about all Hydra's known hideouts, they have all been taken down but maybe Steve and Sam didn't find everything there was in those places. They're in Canada right now, unfortunately they have some work to do there so they can't reach us. Thor is still in Asgard, so for now we'll have to everything by ourselves”

“And what exactly do you expect to find?” Clint asked.

“Anything. Even a file carefully hidden that no one found could be useful. If the Gem was in any of those hideouts but we didn't find it, Hydra probably moved it elsewhere. On the other side, they could have simply found a way to hide it from us. Thor can feel when magic is nearby, it could be useful to bring him with us every time we check one of the hideouts he didn't help take down”

“But he didn't say when he's come back from Asgard,” Bruce pointed out.

“True” Nat looked over at Loki “I suppose you can feel magic too, right?” Loki smirked.

“I am not going to help you”

“You are the one who risks to lose his will if he steps too far from Tony. I think it wouldn't be helping us as much as helping yourself. But that's not what I asked. Can you feel the presence of the Gem near you?” Loki's smirk was replaced with a scowl.

“Any sorcerer with some basic magic training would be able to realize so much power was near them. But I'm afraid the closer I go to the Gem, the more likely it is that I will be subdued”

“In that case, I think Clint would be more than happy to hit your head with enough strength to get you back to yourself. Or maybe, Tony, Bruce, could you build something to pick up magic traces?” 

“I suppose it's possible”

“Yeah, 'course we can”

“Good. It's late, we should get some rest. See you next morning so we can start.” the others took the elevator to their floors, throwing sideways glances at Tony and Loki as they went.

“That went well,” Tony commented.

“Were your friends truly betting on when we would have sex?” Tony nodded.

“Yep. You'd never say, but Brucie's a bit of sly bastard sometimes. Like, he's awesome and everything, but one time we had this Cards Against Humanity night and he won three games over six, and I mean when you're playing with two master assassins and me the thing is creepy. Let me guess, you don't know what Cards Against Humanity is, do you?”

“I don't”

“I'll have to teach you then.” Loki sighed.

“Stark, just stay silent for a while, will you?”

 

***

 

Stark looked extremely displeased that, due to his arm, he couldn't follow his teammates while they went to search the Hydra bases. Banner in the end had had to bribe him with scientific experiments to make Stark follow him to the lab. Since Stark had to stay and so did Loki, Romanoff and Barton had decided to start looking in the bases that had been destroyed with Thor's help, saying that if he hadn't felt any magic then, probably the Gem had never been there.

Stark and Banner had the job of creating an instrument that could detect magic. Loki hadn't liked at all the idea of helping them, but he needed the Gem to be gone and sometimes when you want something you have to make some sacrifices. That was how he found himself in Banner's lab, trying to make Stark understand that no, he could. Not. Use. Magic.

“You can make ice”

“That is due to my natural Jotun inheritance”

“It's always magic”

“It is different, every Jotun can do this, but they would still need training to use any other form of magic”

“Can't you do even a teeny weeny spell?”

“What part of the sentence 'the Allfather binded my magic' you find difficult to comprehend?” Loki took his face between his hands as he spoke and sighed. Centuries of having to deal with Thor and his friends's stupidity was probably the only thing that had given Loki enough self-control to not use physical violence against Stark. And even that self-control was rapidly fading.

“We could try to see if we can at least pick up something when you create ice,” Banner suggested.

“It won't be really useful if Hydra uses the Gem, unless of course that thing is also the Mighty Stone of Frozen Asses”

“It's better than nothing. Loki” Banner reached for some kind of instrument Loki didn't know “Could you please create some ice over this table?” Banner pointed at an empty workbench. His lab was very different from Stark's workshop, primarily for the fact that everything was pristine and in perfect order. It was refreshing in a sense, but after a long period of time Loki found it unsettling. Too empty.

“Since _you_ asked so nicely,” Loki said, giving Stark a glare. The mortal glared back, even though it looked more like a pout. Loki proceeded to freeze part of the plastic surface, Banner measuring something with his instruments, while Stark proceeded to complain about people never appreciating him.

 

***

 

_Loki cried, or at least attempted to, his voice seemingly stuck somewhere in his throat. He was determined not to reduce himself to begging, and only partly because of his pride. He knew that begging would never solve anything at all, would not make anything stop. It never did._

“ _Still so firm in your decision?” a voice from the darkness asked, coming apparently from everywhere. Loki merely nodded, not trusting his voice “Very well. There are always other methods” glowing in the dark. Loki trashed against his restraints._

_Someone was calling him, “Loki, Loki, Loki” he squeezed his eyes shut, shaking his head and trying to clear his mind, he knew those voices “Loki, Loki” was this ice crawling over his body? “Loki” he felt numb, his head was spinning “Loki” blood again flashing in front of him Loki dissipating into nothingness Loki void Loki it was so horrible Loki why did Loki he was suffocating Lo-_

 

“LOKI!” Loki almost fell off of the bed, his heart beating wildly inside his chest. He gasped for air, breathless as if he had just ran for hours. He barely noticed the way his nails were digging in his palms, or that all of his muscles were so tense they almost hurt. A deep fear was devouring him, even though he could realize that it was not justified. Another nightmare, that was all this was. Loki closed his eyes, trying to stop his body from trembling.

“It was a nightmare. A nightmare. Just a nightmare, merely that, it was nothing, it was nothing-” he whispered to himself.

“...Are you alright?” Loki flinched, having again completely forgotten that Stark was in the same bed as he was.

“Obviously,” he murmured. Opening his eyes, in the faint glow of the reactor he could see the ice now covering most of the bed and part of the floor, not as a single layer but rather in a pattern full of sharp spikes and irregular shapes. Stark had retreated to the corner of the room, probably trying to not get frozen. Or impaled.

“Yeah. Obviously.” the mortal tried to side-step the ice to get to the door “Mind if I ask Jarvis to raise the temperature and make this sublimate faster?”

“No. Not at all.” Loki threw the covers to one side, shattering them with how fragile the cold had made them. Not that he cared. He was still too numb from the fear to care about anything. He walked past Stark and into the living room, where he let himself fall heavily on the couch.

“Do you want anything?” Stark asked from the doorway.

“Anything?”

“I dunno, a drink, something. Or whatever.” Stark walked to the couch and sat awkwardly next to Loki.

“No. I don't want anything,” Loki said. They stayed in silence for a few moments.

“You wanna talk about it?” Stark asked.

“What is there to talk about?”

“ _You_ know what you dreamt, not me. I'm just trying to be helpful”

“Well why are you? Again, if I might ass” Loki asked. He let his head fall back against the backrest.

“Well, I have a bit of experience when it comes to bad dreams, as you might have noticed, so I guess it's empathy?”

“It was a dream. It was horrible. What else is there to say?”

“Usually talking about details helps getting it out of your system.” Loki ran a hand over his face and in his hair.

“I don't want to talk about details”

“Ok then. 'M gonna fetch myself some clothes.” Stark gave Loki's knee a small squeeze before going, leaving Loki rather perplexed. Curses came from the bedroom. A corner of Loki's lips tugged up.

A part of Loki told him that he shouldn't have let his guard down near the mortal. But he hadn't been alert long enough for that part to be still anything but a weak voice in the distance. He would be deeply ashamed once all of the fear washed away, he mused. While another small voice in his head was telling him that perhaps, just perhaps, Stark's presence had helped him ground himself to reality.

He silenced that voice as the man walked back in the room, throwing something at Loki. He caught the objects, recognizing them as some of his clothes.

“Put them on. Floor's dangerous. 'M gonna look for band-aids in the other bathroom,” Stark grumbled, limping away and leaving a small trail of blood after himself.

Loki's feelings were alarmingly confused. It must have been the effect of the nightmare, Loki thought, as his left fingers ran across the by now dirty and threadbare cloth on his wrist.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [My Tumblr](http://www.a-weird-rusted-android.tumblr.com)


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My deepest apologies for the long wait, I will try to not let it happen again. You're free of not believing me, I wouldn't believe me either, you're all awesome for sticking with me and you don't deserve my laziness and lateness (is that a word?). God, I'm ranting. Anyway, I had a lot of fun writing this chapter and I hope you enjoy it too and agree with me that Frigga is awesome.

As it turned out, it hadn't been the nightmare's fault. Loki wouldn't give Stark the satisfaction of hearing him swear, hence he did so under his breath while he was alone in the bathroom.

 

***

 

Thor came back from Asgard about a week after the Avengers had found out that Hydra was indeed in possess of the Gem. A week spent in either Stark's or Banner's laboratory, participating in unfruitful experiments, while Romanoff and Barton as unfruitfully attempted to locate the Gem. The only thing that kept Loki from going mad from boredom during the whole week was sex with Stark. They had yet to have a full intercourse, what with Loki's well-hidden reluctance to show his naked body and Stark's cast being in he way, but Loki wasn't going to complain. Not when a simple fellatio was enough to make him come harder than a few partners he had had in his life. Perks of being intimate with a former 'playboy', he supposed.

Anyways, when Thor came back he wasn't alone. Loki had almost forgotten the traditions regarding forced, pardon, _combined_ marriage. More specifically, the one that stated that after the second month of wedding, the one who had officiated the ceremony had to ensure that both parties were happy with the union. And since Heimdall was watching their every move, the whole _Asgard_ probably knew just how full of joy Loki and Stark's... situation was. So this was just a tentative of further humiliation  and embarrassment by the Allfather.

Not that Loki was unhappy to see Frigga, on the contrary. He would have just preferred her to come on Midgard when Loki wasn't forced to stay near Stark to avoid being mind controlled. And possibly when the mortal himself wasn't sporting a purple bruise on the side of his neck. Stark said he wouldn't cover it because it made Barton cringe every time he had to look at it,  a reasoning  which Loki totally approved of.  T he Jotun wasn't one to keep his sexual escapades a secret (especially now that he had only one possible person to have sex with ) and judging by the look on Thor's face when he first set eyes on them everyone on Asgard  kne w that Loki and Stark  had warmed up to each other, so to speak . But she was still his adoptive mother. 

“Loki!” she hugged him tightly when she saw him, and he let her. It eased a knot somewhere in his stomach that his appearance did not stop her from doing so.

“Mother. It is a pleasure to see you.” Barton probably thought Loki hadn't heard him making a joke about being a 'mommy boy'. The archer was going to regret it.

“Brother, Heimdall has told me that something appeared to be strange in your behaviour, what is happening?”

“Don't call me brother”

“I'll explain you, Thor,” Loki and Romanoff said at the same time. Loki glared at the Thunderer while the Widow dragged him to a corner.

“How are you, my child?” Frigga asked, eyes fixed on Loki's face, as if looking for any sign of distress.

“I am rather well”

“Hydra is in possess of such a powerful artifact?” Loki rolled his eyes as Thor's voice became louder and louder.

“I wish I could do something to help you in this difficult moment, but Odin has forbidden me from using my magic to interfere in the matters of Midgard,” Frigga said, having probably listened to the conversation.

“Should I be surprised?” Loki asked. She sighed.

“Is there a place where me and my son may talk alone?” she asked, eyes traveling to the Avengers.

“Uh, sure but there's this little, uh, problem...” Stark glanced at Loki, then at Romanoff, and again at Loki. He was rubbing his neck with his hand, trying to cover the bruise.

“It will not be long. If he shows any sign of distress, I will endeavor to bring him to you, Man of Iron,” Frigga said. Loki was starting to think she may have observed him privately using her own means. It didn't really surprise him, though it made him slightly uncomfortable.

“Well then, wherever you want I guess.” Stark was nervous. Very much so.

“Mother, please, come this way.” Loki took her by her arm and guided her toward the elevator. She and Thor had met Loki and the Avengers on the communal floor, so he brought her to the penthouse. She was quiet, her gaze never leaving Loki's face. It made him want to squirm, to have his mother see him in this skin.

In the penthouse, she sat down on the couch, while Loki stood, not certain of what to say. What does one tell their mother after everything that had happened not only in the last two months, but in the last two years of his life?

“It seems you have quite a problem, “ Frigga said, breaking the silence.

“Indeed”

“What do you plan on doing?”

“I have to collaborate with the Avengers to find the Gem. Once Stark's arm will be healed, I will be able to visit the sites where this Hydra organization used to be.” Frigga smiled.

“That is not the problem I was referring to”

“Then what was it?”

“Come sit by me” Loki did so “I have, on a couple occasions, used my magic to see how you were doing”

“I suspected as much”

“I didn't want to destroy your privacy, I was merely concerned about you. After the first weeks, Heimdall stopped keeping you on such a strict surveillance, and what news I could have about you were very scarce. I had to see whether you were still miserable or if you had found ways to distract yourself”

“And?” Frigga's smile widened.

“Don't worry, I haven't witnessed you in any situation a mother should never see her son being” Loki hoped Stark had been lying when he said that he could blush while in his Jotun skin “I have seen you a few times with the Man of Iron in his... well, I am not entirely sure what to call the place where he creates his machineries”

“I believe the right term would be 'workshop',” Loki said.

“And I have seen you earlier this week. And I do believe you may know what problem I was talking about.” Frigga gave him a meaningful look. Loki bit his lower lip. He could never hide anything from his mother.

“It will pass”

“I don't believe that it will just disappear. And neither do you. The question is, do you want this to pass?” Loki didn't respond. Frigga sighed and put her hand on his right one “May I?” Loki nodded and she untied the cloth from his wrist.

The matrimonial chain was different from when she had put it on his wrist. The shape was the same, with the mails in the form of small triangles. It was the colors that had changed. Instead of pale gray, the triangles were now alternatively red and golden colored, the only exception being a blue one between two red ones. The color pattern was now overall resembling the one of an Iron Man suit, though not so brilliant. Each color was still of a rather pale shade, but they were there nonetheless.

“How long has it been like this?” Frigga asked.

“I know not. I uncovered it about five days ago and it was already colored. Maybe it even gained intensity.” Loki tugged half-heartedly at the chain “It is not that brilliant yet,” he commented.

“Yet,” Frigga repeated.

“I don't even know how bright it can actually become,” Frigga showed him her right wrist. A completely golden, thick thread circled her wrist. It was a truly intense color.

“There is no actual limit. I have seen people whose chains were even brighter than this,” she explained.

“Let's hope it does not get to that.” like he didn't have enough problems as things were. He didn't need to even... _feel_ something for _Stark_. But the colors of the chain were an indicator, and they never lied. The more intense they became, the strongest the feelings one had towards the one they were tied to. Luckily this seemed to be only a barely there form of affection. It could just be the beginning of a friendship. Loki hadn't wished to be friends with Stark, but being friends was better than being... _else_. Though he was not sure the chains colors could mean affection for a friend other than affection for a lover.

“Maybe you should.” Loki shook his head.

“Why should I? He is nothing but a mere mortal”

“Does that mean that you consider him unworthy or that you are too scared of losing someone you may care deeply for?” sometimes Loki cursed his mother's ability to understand him so fully.

“It doesn't matter. We should head back to the communal floor, I... I would rather not risk having the Gem control me.” Loki stood, avoiding eye contact. Frigga sighed.

“If you do not wish to discuss this with me, that is fine. But you cannot avoid the matter forever.”

 

***

 

“Brother Anthony” Tony cringed internally at the title “May I have words with you?”

“About what?” Tony tugged the collar of his t-shirt nervously. How do you tell the Thunder God that you and his little brother who you were forced to marry two months ago are now doing naughty things together? Unless Thor already knew, of course. He wasn't the smartest guy around sometimes, but a hickey was a hickey.

“Is it true that you and my brother are engaging in sexual intercourse?” fuck if that didn't sound like the beginning of a really uncomfortable 'don't you dare take advantage of my baby bro' speech.

“Uh, yeah? More or less? I hope you don't want details because that's not what brothers usually ask about their brothers' sex life”

“I wanted to make sure you did not take advantage of him in any way.” there we go.

“Look, I'm not the kind of asshole that tricks others into sleeping with him against their will, ok? If your brother and I do the do is because we both are consenting adults who want to do the over mentioned do with the other. He's not on board with something, we don't do it. And even if I was an asshole like that, I'm a human with a broken arm. He's a Jotun. Given that he doesn't really strike me as the kind of person you can psychologically manipulate, how the hell am I even supposed to force him to do stuff?” Thor frowned. He probably hadn't thought about it this way.

“My apologies. I do not think you a dishonorable person, I am merely concerned about my brother.”

“No big deal. Just... Is your creepy stalker guy still watching us? Because that makes me kind of uncomfortable,” Tony asked.

“Heimdall has many other matters to worry about. He does not spend all of his time watching you and Loki”

“Great. By the way, why's your mom here?”

“It is tradition that-”

“Got it, I don't tell me anything else.” Tony one of these days was gonna find the jerk who had thought about all these traditions first and hand them their ass on a cheap birthday party plastic plate. And given the lifespan of those guys, chances were this jerk was still alive.

“More importantly, is she staying here for a while?” Clint asked.

“Nay, the Allfather has deemed that she returns to Asgard by the end of the day.” Thor answered, glancing at the elevator Loki and Frigga had took. Tony raised an eyebrow. Ok, so from what he got Loki really loved his mom. Odin said she has to return to Asgard soon. So Loki spends really little time with him mom. That's a bit of a low blow.

“Do we need to discuss the details of Tony and Loki's sex life any longer or can we go back to more urgent matters? I wouldn't want to pressure you, but finding the Gem and preventing Hydra to use it for their plans is slightly more important.” Tony took a mental note to thank Natasha about stopping the conversation. It was starting to get really awkward.

Thor was rather enraged about this whole 'Hydra has the Gem' thing. No surprise, it seemed that when he had decided to leave it here Fury had assured him that he would keep it safe and prevent any baddies to get it. Now Thor knew what go trust SHIELD, end up being fucked in the ass without any lube really felt like. He offered his full support in the search, saying he could fly to Canada with Steve to help him. His knowledge about magic was very basic, he said, but even he wouldn't have problems detecting something that powerful nearby. Apparently during the Chitauri invasion being in proximity of the Gem had always given him a strange sensation, even if at the time he wasn't totally sure of what it was.

The elevator opened and Loki and Frigga came out. Loki was brooding. Great. Brooding Loki meant annoying Loki. Unless Tony managed to make him come hard enough that he got his good mood back. Shit. Tony tugged up the collar of his shirt, but there was no way he could hide the big ass mark that covered half of his neck from his, uh, mother-in-law who was also the Queen of fucking Asgard.

“Mother, broth- Loki.” what was with Thor and saying hi to people whenever they entered a room? They were gone for like ten minutes.

“I see that you are very busy. I do not wish to bother you,” Frigga said with a smile.

“You do not have to leave if you do not desire to, Mother.” Thor glanced around, probably for approval.

“Of course, your Majesty. Maybe Tony could show you the place.” Tony's eyes widened and he kind of gaped at Natasha for her horrible idea. How does one person go from completely awesome to cruel in a matter of a minute?

“If he wishes to,” Frigga said, looking straight at Tony and making him even more nervous than he already was. He wanted to say no, but he couldn't really, after all it wasn't like Frigga was just going to leave after five minutes. And he had to make a good impression on her, right? And a small part of him told him that maybe, just maybe, he was feeling bad for Loki and wanted to let him spend some time with his mom without risking being put under mind control. Whatever. Tony's good part always came out in the worst moments.

“Sure, no problem”

“Thank you.” Frigga smiled again, and in that single moment Tony could say he knew where Loki had taken the sadistic streak from. Loki whose eyes had widened too and looked like he wanted to flee the room. Because of course, tour with Tony meant Tony, Loki and Frigga alone in the same room and both Tony and Loki seemed to agree that _that_ would be a terrible idea. But Tony couldn't exactly refuse either, could he?

“So, uh, come with me,” Tony said, heading to the elevator and planning revenge on Nat. Actually no, that wasn't really advisable, maybe he would just take out his frustration on Clint. Maybe he could talk Loki into helping him pull a prank on the Bird. Pity Steve was away, he was always the funniest to prank.

“Where are we going exactly?” Frigga asked once all three of them were inside the elevator, Loki and Tony at the opposite sides like two teenagers who have been caught making out and are now hoping they won't end up in trouble for it. Or, at least, Tony was pretty sure his face was showing exactly that. Loki had put back his mask of emotionless ice statue, pun intended.

“I suppose Stark could show you his workshop,” Loki said, giving Tony a glance that clearly meant 'just do as I say or I'll gut you, your family and your pet'.

“Yeah, I mean if you'd like to... your Majesty.” smooth Tony, smooth. For all his charisma and amazing personality, meeting the parents had always been a weakness of his. Not that he had done it often, at least never on purpose, but the simple thought made him panic. He supposed that it was some kind of trauma from the first time his partner's parents had walked in on him having sex with a girl. He had been 16, she had been too, and the cock blocker had been her father. Who also happened to be a colleague of _Tony's_ father. He hadn't taken it well and Howard had taken it even worse. And after Howard had died Tony had had to work a lot with Angry Pissed Father who kind of never forgave him for destroying his little girl's purity (actually, someone else had did that before him and when he had mentioned it he got a punch in the face) and spent about five years of his life trying to make Tony as uncomfortable as he could. Then he retired, the girl had probably ended up marrying some rich guy and Tony never heard of them again. Still. Those things leave a sign.

“You can call me Frigga, and yes, I would like that.” Tony pressed the button and hoped that his ability to not totally make an ass of himself came back as soon as possible. And why was he so nervous in the first place? She knew he and Loki were, well, she had been the one to officiate, it wasn't like she would start screaming at him any moment now. Considering how close she and Loki seemed to be, there was the vague possibility that she could turn his blankets in a bunch of tarantulas or something like that just because she could. He hoped she and Loki weren't _that_ similar (not that Loki had done something like that, mostly because he couldn't, but one time he had somehow managed to find all the spiders and insects Tony didn't even know _how_ had even got inside the Tower, put them in a jar and then opened the jar just as Tony was waking up. Bastard).

“Ok, we're getting there.” Tony fidgeted as Frigga decided that she wanted to stare at him. Why did she have to? At least his hickey was on the other side of his neck.

“I hope my son did not cause any trouble during his stay,” she said.

“Loki? He...” Loki mouthed what looked like a 'tell her no' while Frigga wasn't watching him. Jeez, twelve years old much? “He didn't, I mean, not... Really, he behaved himself” Loki scowled.

“Is he telling you to tell me this?” Frigga asked. Damn, she knew her kid. Tony wasn't really good at lip-reading but that had looked like 'no sex for two weeks'.

“Uh, no?” he said. Frigga raised her eyebrow, but the elevator stopped before she could say anything else.

“We have arrived,” Loki said, exiting the elevator rather quickly.

“There. So here's were I work,” Tony said, guiding Frigga to his workshop, which was messier than usual since yesterday night he had managed to blow up something and Bruce had decreed that Tony was going to bed, now. You don't argue with Bruce after he managed to keep it cool after an explosion and he's gripping the edge of a table so hard his knuckles are becoming white and his eyes look vaguely green. Tony and Loki completely agreed on that. Tony doubted either of them had ever followed an order so quickly in their lives.

“I see. I am afraid most of these objects are completely foreign to me. Though I have heard your armor has some kind of magical properties, may you explain it to me?” Frigga asked, eyes going to the almost complete suit Tony had been working on since before Loki's arrival.

“It's not magical. It's just science. Basically with it I am stronger, I can fly and I can shoot energy beams.” Tony shrugged, not sure how to handle the situation. He didn't like people asking him stuff about his suit.

“Without magic? That is rather remarkable, I was not aware such things were possible on Midgard,” Frigga mused.

“They aren't. I am the only one who can make this kind of thing.” and this was the cue to start a long conversation about Midgard, and how do things work here, and why is being a billionare such a big deal on this Realm, and why are there so many nations in the world and is not all united like all the other Realms, and this could have gone so much worse but Tony still hoped this was an isolated episode. Frigga was actually really nice, but it didn't mean Tony hadn't felt as if he was going to wet his pants on a couple occasions. Especially when she smiled that little knowing smile of hers, and were they sure she and Loki weren't related?

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [My Tumblr](http://www.a-weird-rusted-android.tumblr.com)


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone! This story lately has done its best to stop me from writing it but I think I'll be able to update a bit more quickly now. I hope at least.  
> Over 300 kudos, what did I do to deserve this response *excited pterodactyl noise*

No matter how much Loki loved Frigga, he was glad when she finally decided to leave. Being alone with her and Stark had proved to be rather awkward. Luckily the conversation had been about neutral topics, both Loki and Stark being ready to change subject whenever it seemed that they were about to discuss something of a more personal nature. This obviously couldn't have gone unnoticed by Frigga, but she never said anything about it.

After three hours of nervous chatting, Frigga finally asked to be accompanied back to the roof and bid them farewell, giving Loki one last hug and a warm smile to Stark. The mortal seemed to have completely forgotten how to keep his feet still, and even after the lights of Bifrost had disappeared he kept tugging at his shirt.

“Why did you agree for us to spend hours alone with my Mother?” Loki asked as soon as he and Stark were alone again.

“Because it was polite and I know you wanted to spend time with her, and I can't leave you alone. And besides, after Nat suggested it I couldn't really say no. Man, I'm getting too allowing with people these days.”

“Then firstly I will take revenge on you, and later on her,” Loki said, pointedly ignoring the first sentence. Stark made a strange sound.

“No, no, no, no, you want to prank me or something? I guess there's no real stopping you. But Natasha? Do you have a death wish?”

“I heard only the last part, why should I kill him?” Romanoff asked. Stark jumped and even Loki had to admit he hadn't noticed her coming behind them.

“Jesus Christ, I'm prone to heart attacks, you know?” Romanoff raised an eyebrow.

“You're being over dramatic. Again. I need you two to get down with me.”

“Why?” Loki asked. He was getting tired of this woman giving him orders. She may be a competent leader, but not _his_ leader.

“Because I think it's time to create a credible lie for your presence here, Tony's recent absence from the public scene and why you are now his shadow.” Loki raised an eyebrow. Couldn't she just invent something herself? Loki was not in the mood to deal with problems posed by human society. Surely she was a good enough liar to create some fictional story that the mortals would believe.

“No one knows he's here.” Stark said.

“If you are going to get out of this Tower as soon as your arm heals and he's going to help us find this Gem, people _will_ see him.” and Stark should have been the genius.

“He's blue. Maybe they won't recognize him.”

“If mortals truly are not able to recognize someone merely because their skin color has changed, then I truly wonder how your race came to be the dominant one on this Realm.” Stark glared at him.

“Yeah, well, fine, let's get down and make this lie of yours.”

Despite Loki's initial thoughts, it turned out that, even with the combined skills of the God of Lies and of the woman who was probably Midgard's best liar, coming up with a good story was a rather complex task. The difficult part was neither explaining why Loki was on Earth, helping the Avengers and in this form (the Allfather had punished him by banning him on this Realm in a different form and forcing him to right his wrongdoings) nor why Stark had been a complete recluse for the past weeks (he had injured himself during one of his experiments and was forced to stay inside and heal), but rather why Loki would now follow Stark wherever he went. Most of Loki's suggestion turned out to be unbelievable or unacceptable by Midgard standards. And both Loki and Stark were adamant on not letting anyone know about their marriage. It still was something neither of them wanted to acknowledge.

Eventually, they decided to say that Stark was in possess of some sort of device which kept Loki in control and without his powers, but that the device had an extremely short range of action so Loki had to be close for it to be effective, and Stark wouldn't give it to anyone else because the workings of this device where extremely complicated and he was the only one who knew how to use it.

This was possibly one of the worst lies Loki ever had to tell in the last three centuries or so, but they couldn't come up with any better ideas. Loki thought the woman looked rather displeased with this story as well, but Stark seemed to believe it was a great idea and that maybe not all, but most people would believe it. It didn't erase the many doubts Loki had about human intelligence, or lack thereof.

 

***

 

After creating a lie, came making people believe it. So Tony made Pepper call a press conference, since with SHIELD gone she had been elected to Official Press Conferences Caller, to explain people what was fake going on. They decided to make Tony speak first, and then call out Loki after he broke the news to the journalists. Loki wasn't happy about this, something about not wanting to be shown off like a strange animal for some low mortals, but blowjobs were something Tony was getting really fucking good at. Or better than he already was at least.

The press seemed at first very interested in what was this experiment that had gone wrong, but Tony threw a couple jokes about top secret things and flashed his best grin and everyone bought it. A broken arm and some nasty looking bruises on his face (thanks to a Jotun who sometimes _forgot_ to keep his body temperature up) completed the picture. Besides, it wasn't the first time Tony had to stay inside for a while because he had made something blow up. There was that memorable time with a microwave and nitroglycerin when they had to rebuild half of the lab floor of the Tower. Tony still had scars on his back because of that.

And then of course came the whole 'hey, by the way, you remember the space psycho who tried to enslave humanity a while ago? We keep him here on Earth now, he's nice, as long as you remember to feed him and have sex with him at least once a day'. The room exploded. Tony had possibly never seen journalists going so wild. And the mess got even worst when someone (probably Thor) finally managed to make Loki come out on stage. It was only after Pepper used all of her calming people the fuck down superpowers that Tony was finally able to finish his story telling and say that yeah, Loki was stuck here, yeah, he and the Jotun were going to be besties for a while, no, he wasn't _too_ dangerous and no, he wasn't explaining why he was all blue and much more menacing than usual.

All in all it went well. Apart from when someone tried to ask Loki a question and the god basically hissed at him. Which was pretty funny if you asked Tony, like for once he or Thor weren't the one the hissing was aimed at. Pepper didn't seem to think so, but Pepper thought a lot of funny stuff wasn't funny at all. Like, explosions. Who didn't find making something blow up was great? Ok, take all the precautions and don't hurt anyone, yadda, yadda, yadda, but _come on_. At least Loki was pretty happy to blow things up. It was a nice thing, to have a blowing up buddy. So long as he didn't blow _people_ up.

“I am ashamed of myself for telling such a ridiculous lie,” Loki said, for about the hundredth time, when they managed to escape the press and get inside the car.

“If you had any better ideas, you should've enlightened me earlier. It's too late now.” Loki scoffed and turned to look outside of the car window. They were in the backseat, with Pepper and Loki on either side of Tony. Still awkward. Thor was in the front seat; they had taken him along to keep an eye on Loki and reassure people that his bro wasn't going to kill anyone. Happy was driving; he had been informed of the whole marriage situation but everything about the Gem had been kept a secret from both him and Pepper. They could surely tell that something was going on, or at least Pepper could, but they didn't ask questions. They were used to top secret superhero business by now.

“Do not be so hard with yourself brother! At least now you can freely come outside of the Tower and breathe some fresh air.” Tony preferred not to comment about the 'fresh air' part. Like, really? In the middle of New York City?

“Freely is not the term I would use, _Thor_ ,” Loki spat.

“Ok, ok, ok, let's not start a fratricide dispute, wait until we're out of the car at least,” Tony said, sensing the danger. Loki glared at him, but didn't say anything.

Everyone stayed completely silent for the rest of the car ride, even Thor. The Aesir kept fidgeting around, but he kept his mouth closed. Tony thought it was about time he developed some sense of self preservation. Or other people's preservation. But really, being in a car with two gods, one of which blue, Pepper and Happy was a situation Tony had never considered finding himself into. And why the actual fuck did everything have to be so awkward around him these days?

Once they arrived to the Tower they had to yet again go through a wall of journalists and photographers and people shouting questions. Luckily Thor was more than big enough to make space for them to move. And a glare from Loki made everyone recede. All in all, no one was injured and that was already a good result. Happy said something about putting away the car and the rest of the group entered. They had made sure no one who wasn't absolutely necessary was at the Tower that day, so just a couple curious faces turned towards them, before they all scuttled back to do whatever they had to do.

“Tony, can I speak with you for a moment?” Pepper asked.

“Uh, yeah?”

“I will see you later,” Thor said, for once taking the hint and leaving. Pepper glanced at Loki, who was just standing there and looking around.

“You remember the 'he can't leave me' part? He seriously can't,” Tony said. Pepper raised and eyebrow. “It's a long story.”

“Do not worry, I have no interest in listening to your conversation,” Loki said, moving to a close wall and leaning against it. Tony took Pepper by her arm and took her as far from the god as they could without risking too much.

“What's happening Tony?” she asked, putting her 'no shit' look on her face.

“Lots of things are happening.” he shrugged.

“You know what I mean.” Tony glanced at Loki, who seemed to be taking great pleasure in the way his presence was terrifying the few workers around.

“Look, you know I can't always tell you everything about everything. It's a complicated story, all I can say is that for a while me and Loki need to be as close as the peanut butter to the bread. I don't know how long, but we need to take care of a couple things first,” Tony explained. Pepper shook her head.

“How do you always find yourself in this amount of trouble?” she sighed.

“What can I say, it's part of my charm,” Tony said with a grin.

“Be careful Tony. Please.”

“Sure, as always.” Pepper snorted.

“I'll see you alive again I hope,” she said. Tony watched her for a moment as she left, nodding politely to Loki when she walked past him. The Jotun nodded in response; Tony was amazed by how she had managed to make Loki act polite around her.

Tony blinked. He didn't miss her. Like, she was his friend and he loved her, but he didn't miss what they had. Not anymore. The pain for the break up just wasn't there. Sure, he still felt guilty for the circumstances that led to it, and for not being able to say no to Odin's orders, but he didn't want their relationship back. She looked happy, and that's what mattered to Tony.

“Stark? Have you fallen asleep?” Loki snapped his fingers in front of Tony's eyes. He blinked. He hadn't realized he had spaced out.

“What?”

“Are we about to spend the whole day in this room?”

“No, no, sure, let's go,” Tony said, going to the elevator. Loki seemed perplexed, but he followed him without questions.

 

***

 

“Hey, Elsa.”

“Call me that way again and I will make your limbs detach from hypothermia,” Loki growled. Tony laughed. They were lying on the bed, after a round of amazing sex. Well, oral sex. As long as Tony had his cast on they weren't really having sex as in actually fucking each other because the damned thing kept getting in the way. That didn't mean they couldn't suck each other off, though. And Tony had always thought that the thing of cold making erections disappear was some kind of automatic response in the male physiology. But apparently he had been wrong, or at least he had been wrong as long as the cold wasn't too extreme and accompanied by a tongue doing wonders. He had been so wonderfully wrong.

Tony stretched his back and groaned. He turned to his side, where Loki was watching him. He couldn't quite see him, since his cast was partially covering his arc reactor and the lights were off. The Jotun had put on some pants right after they had finished, but had, strangely, kept his shirt off. For some reason Loki always put all of his clothes back on right after they'd finished and Tony he had the distinct feeling that the Jotun was somewhat insecure about his body. There was just something about the hurried way he dressed that made it look like he was ashamed of himself. Tony didn't have a clue of why; the raised markings on blue skin were a bit weird at first but ultimately the guy was fucking hot. It possibly had something to do with that thing about Asgardians and Jotuns hating each other. It had been a few weeks since the last of their conversations about their species differences, but from what Tony had gathered the Viking aliens and the Smurf aliens were at each other's throats more often than not. He should maybe ask Loki, but he kinda liked his eyes where they were.

“Look, aren't you a bit bored of always being inside? 'Cause I sure am,” Tony said. Loki shifted on the bed to face him.

“If you are about to ask whether or not we should go outside of this Tower, the answer is aye, we should,” he said.

“Well aren't you the perceptive one.” Tony could _hear_ the scowl Loki had to have on his face.

“And tell me, Stark, what place on this Realm would be a suitable choice for me to go to? I would upset your people even if I was in my Aesir form, let alone while I am like this.” Tony thought he heard a note of self-deprecation somewhere in there.

“I thought you liked having people fear you,” he said.

“That is true.”

“So stop whining, and yes, you were right now. I was thinking we should make a trip to Central Park, what'd you think?”

“What is Central Park?”

“It's like this huge Park that's here in New York. Thought you'd like to see some nature, Thor's always going on about how big and majestic the forests in Asgard are and all that shit. But we can to the mall if you want,” Tony answered. He wasn't particularly in love with trees and plants in general, but he figured that for _once_ in his lifetime he could actually be a nice person to Loki. Actually, the number of times he acted as a nice person to the Jotun was increasing on an almost daily basis. It was kind of unsettling when he thought about it. Probably had to do with the amazing sex or something. Yes, that had to be it.

“I have seen pictures of the thing you call mall and I would not go inside one of those if my life depended on it. Let us go to this park of yours then.” Tony smiled.

“Cool. Also, there are a lot of secluded corners in the place, so if people start to go crazy we can just hide behind a bush,”

“My, my, Stark, what kind of things are you suggesting?”

“Did I say something wrong?” Tony asked. Loki chuckled.

“On Asgard there is usually only one reason one asks another to join them behind a bush, and quite often at least one of them is inebriated,” Loki explained.

“Kinky. And what if someone walks in on them?”

“The couple may cover themselves in shame or they may make the person who found them an offer of the most enjoyable kind. All depends on every involved part's... dispositions,” Loki said. Was Tony hearing outdoor threesomes somewhere in there? He poked Loki in the ribs.

“And what about you, Lo'? Ever took a pretty girl or guy behind the bushes?” he asked.

“I will not confirm nor deny anything”

“...Ever had someone making you an 'offer of the most enjoyable kind'?” Loki chuckled besides him “Was that a yes or a no?”

“As I told you, I will neither confirm nor deny,”

“I take that as 'yes, I totally had public drunk sex with two random guys I found shagging while I was passing by' then,” Tony said. Who would have guessed Reindeer Games was such a kinky bastard? _Anyone who spent_ _at least_ _ten minute_ _s with him_ , Tony's brain supplied.

“At least _I_ do not have videos of myself kissing a woman while she has her hands down my pants and both of us are clearly intoxicated. And do not tell me that you have never engaged in intercourse with other two participants at the same time,” Loki said.

“Yeah, but last time I had a threesome we were in a bed behind closed doors,” Tony said. And what a memory that was.

“And who told you the last time I had one it was somewhere people could easily see us?” Loki purred. Tony nearly choked on spit.

“Isn't the Prince supposed to be all proper and shit?”

“So long as the Prince does not impregnate any woman, he can sleep with whomever he pleases,” Loki said. His voice had taken a sharp edge Tony didn't like. He wondered what he'd said to piss the guy off.

“Whatever. I wanna sleep, so tomorrow we can go on a trip, 'k?” Tony said.

“Do as you please,” Loki replied. Tony crawled under the covers, noticing that the air seemed suddenly colder.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [My Tumblr](http://a-weird-rusted-android.tumblr.com)


End file.
